RWBY: The D'arc Game of Life

by ThePlayer1Company

Jaune Arc has lived a quite normal life, sans his parents splitting up when he was 10. Regardless, he wants to be a Huntsman, a hero like his father! One day, he messes up in the best way possible, and a tiny splinter grows into a grand adventure, in which the blonde must play a dark game of life. Only time will tell the truth. RWBY/Gamer crossover

19. The Mighty Moon among the Distant Stars

4/23/2017 at 2:53 AM: Well, starting the next chapter off with some stuff I cut from the end of last chapter. I hope I can cut down on the "having too much stuff" in this chapter... hopefully. Until then, we just have to wait and see until after I'm able to work on it more, because like I said at the end of the last chapter, I have a lot of work to do "tomorrow" (meaning "the daylight hours after this chapter") and should really get to bed soon. I'll type a little bit though. Similar to getting a level-up in an RPG, my creative energy is restored a great deal when I start a new chapter... also, I should see about making that forum.

4/24/2017 at 5:34 PM: Well, I have to go to class now, but I decided to grind out as many words as possible, and now have 11.8k words done, just like that. Yeah, I think I could definitely eke out a chapter every few days at this rate. Problem is, I had to focus on nothing but THIS during that time. Not even schoolwork. I'm going to have to deal with all this shit for at least another week, so not TOO long thankfully, but hey, it's the price for a good life.

4/26/2017 at 8:59 AM: Okay, I just had a cool idea, which I will start as an Omake, and that idea might be an alternate story. There's a strong market for gamer types of stories, and the one I just got, I will simply call "New Dawn". Wordcount update: 16k

4/27/2017 at 8:23 PM: Okay... I just saw two people had started following the story, and their names are Shifting Paradigms and Aesopian, which for some reason makes me think they're part of a youtube channel or something, which then made me think about how dope it would be if someone made an audiobook out of my story. I just hope someone, some day, has the guts to do it. That would be the most awesome thing I've ever seen.

4/29/2017 at 10:50 PM: Okay... well, I've come to realize I'm on a rather fucked up sleeping schedule, like... currently it's 9 to 4, from my estimates... 9 PM to 4PM to the next day. I'm going to be trying to push that to something better in the next couple of days, since I desperately need it.

5/1/2017 at 8:38 PM: Gonna probably have to take a couple days off from writing to finish my college stuffs. Might finish Thursday, might be Wednesday, who the fuck knows? I don't, at the moment.

5/8/2017 at 8:18 AM: Well, let me tell you, this week has been STRESSFUL. Chapter wordcount was like 31.4k, omake looks incredibly long but is only like 4k words so far, and nearly done at that! Everything here a lot of words regardless though! Anyways, I'll probably finish this shit up in the next couple hours, post, and then focus on some college shit.

5/8/2017 at 4:53 PM: It's all done. I'm going to post the chapter now. Final wordcount 37.3k. I hope you all enjoy this thing!

5/8/2017 at 7:13 PM: Post-completion note... apparently the notifications are broken. I don't like that. I'm gonna try to delete and reupload the chapter, see if that fixes it.

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Reviewer Responses:

Jack905 (congrats on not being a Guest anymore!): Oh my god you actually did it, you absolute madman, XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. Anyways... Sassy Answer= He'll face BATTLE with Cinder at all, hehehe (that means making out, in case you didn't know). Serious Answer= Yeah, he'll eventually face off against Cinder. Depending on what my plans go like, it might be sooner rather than later, but going THAT route sets off some other shit that will start a spiral, and that will probably end up playing a lot of cards too soon, so... it might not be sooner rather than later. I think I'll have to move that couplet of events further back, after more justification rises that nobody will see because I made it really subtle and when it's pointed out you'll probably be like "OH! THAT'S WHY! Damn, that's pretty clever." so yeah. Woot, first review on the new chapter and it's a pretty great one!

Alex2909: Yep, slowly but surely, which would probably eventually lead to a mass reveal in which they all end up shouting out their feelings like stereotypical anime heroes and their expositions, and Jaune has to decide what he's gonna do about it. Too bad he doesn't have any real empathy sense, that'd make this all much easier to see coming.

xYuukito: Damn, really? Holy fuck, dude. I should cut that stuff down, then. I'm going to make an effort to do so starting THIS CHAPTER. Sadly, it'll be really hard, because I want to respond to every review worth responding to.

Crofty666: He would be able to. It happened once, it should be able to happen again, scientifically speaking. He doesn't know how yet, though... pretty much, but the thing is is that Jaune will probs go for the Weiss (Snow Angel, because Snow and Angel) while Jade would go for Yang (Gold Stars, like Gold Shield, both abbreviated GS and both Gold and Something related to his class). I was planning on setting up Jade/Jaune's friendship to be like Saitama and Genos from One Punch Man, except with Saitama being the smarter one and Genos being the stronger one. That make sense? Also, make a profile. Stop being anonymous, anonymous people are close to grimm-status. Here, *awakens your aura/profileness* be free~, :P

perseus99: You know, your review and like the 4 after it, I didn't see until I looked at the page, so it was like Billy Mays, "And wait, there's MORE!"... onto your review. No, Jian Bing in that story was a persona used by that story's Jaune. Here, Jaune would have no need for it because 1) He has nearly everyone that will be close to him in the know, 2) he isn't going to start committing crimes using martial arts, and 3) He doesn't even know the White Tiger style, he knows Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird.

zen-aku the spirit wolf: Yeah, she is, and not just because Yang is Caritas and the two skill names rhyme and the two holders are sisters... well they're in the forest and they have no grain crops for any sort of bread, tortilla, rice, quinoa, or whatever the fuck else is grains... oh man, you are NOT going to like my compiled list of Magic Swords of Doom, LOL JK yeah I never really liked the magic spears motif, Jaune uses swords, and who knows maybe he could indeed develop a weapon that will grow his harem (sorry I couldn't help but poke fun at how there wasn't any division between those two points)... hmmm... I'm thinking Orgasmotron Laser, compressed into spell form, costs 500 AP per equivalent minute of intense pleasure, more if they resist... WTF am I even saying right now? XDDDDDDDD

Umbrardor: Uh... okay, I think I will! *goes to many locations such as Spacebattles, and several other stories, and leaves them a small box with two cookies in it, one for the person and one for a friend/lover*

God Emperor of GAR-halla: Thing is, I'm trying to get them there ASAP, which is why I'm compressing the whole of Mistral into like 3 chapters.

LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: Please don't have capitals like that... and also yes, I DID say that. Sadly, I can't go that fast because I have IRL shit to do, and unlike Ryuugi I am not a machine disguised as a very dedicated man and cannot do that like that.

sorry . no-names: Yeah, I mean she's 15 and a quick google search tells me that most girls start puberty at age 11 and are physically mature by age 14. She might be childish-acting, but unless something is blocking her hormones she shouldn't be NOT experiencing the same red-faced feelings that pretty much every teen goes through... Castitas is more than just innocence, it's a purity of heart, and Ruby is very pure of heart... yeah she is, especially if she's going to be one of ten wives (Ren is not exempt, he will be assimilated, XDDDDD)... yeah, and that fortification comes from INT, the sharpness of the mind... yeah, I realize I'm slowly making her depend on Jaune more and more, which I think stems from bits and pieces of my ravenous reading appetite (I've even learned and grown from some of those "X betrays/tries to kill Y because of *insert usually very exaggerated reason here)") and my love of Snow Angel (that's my official name for it), as well as pretty much all Jaune pairings... well no, not "prestige", he's going to "reach the benchmark"... I laughed too. Too bad it's all just a ploy to eventually turn Yang bisexual so she'll be more open to the harem, XDDDDDDDD... yeah, Stay True was meant to be annoying. Usually it pops up in normal conversation, but Jaune isn't tracking it 24/7 so he probably wouldn't even notice when he said something really small, while a bigger truth would definitely catch his attention... yeah, he can do a lot, but he's literally trying to hold a patch onto a hole in a torn-open, highly empowered soul, while it's leaking constantly, and that costs a LOT of AP... well there's RWBYJRMN, Ruby German, but I think the germans would surrender to France if France had Jaune on their side XDDDDDD... saying that a human meeting with a massive group of racist terrorist faunus and trying to trick them into thinking he's best buds with their fucking LEADER who THANK FUCKING GOD/LUCK happened to once have a human friend that Naranja remembered once being mentioned, is "tense", is like saying the ocean is "wet", it doesn't fully convey the scale of the situation. Sure, a few well-placed Gaster Blasters and he pretty much could kill all of them, but he really, REALLY didn't wanna do that, especially since Thomas is kinda close and is working with him on the "redeeming the WF" plan... Yeah, Jenkins will get recognition and shiz, and just wait until he's leading an army of people, backed by golems with assault rifles XDDDDDDDDDDD... you have bet very wisely, friend-o... well his housekeeping skills will (SPOILERS!) become awesome magical prestiges... there is no XDDDDDD for this, I'm not even joking (END SPOILERS!)... he actually hasn't tried yet, nor have I thought of that... well they won't "defend themselves" in the way you might think, but they have a measure of defense. There isn't yet any hive-coagulation-amalgam "soul of the forest", so it's basically a ton of small, but strong souls defending their bodies from outsiders that try to harm him. Jaune may not be a Lorax, but he's friends with the trees, and well, "So long as you are friends with the bees, the bees will not sting you." is a good way to look at it... yeah, surprisingly the Water Elemental is the one to be insightful. Funny thing about Water and Metal too, is that they both assist VIT, but Water assists "Vitality" while Metal assists the "Constitution" aspect of it, AKA lifeforce vs toughness... yeah, Marbel is doing her best... and knowing is half the battle!... Ruby gets a few more levels and she's bound to get Aurora, but getting her LUK up will help her regardless, while INT only makes her smarter. He's banking on her being able to get more levels, which she will do without a doubt... so could Nora. While Ren's VIT is skewed towards "lots of lifeforce and little endurance", while Nora's VIT is skewed towards "lots of endurance and little lifeforce", basically meaning that Ren will have among the biggest HP bars and smallest SP bars, and Nora will have among the biggest SP bars and smallest HP bars... Jaune was the one who said family, not Weiss. Weiss was caught off guard by his almost casual fondness for all of them, and finds it surprisingly nice to be considered so close to him.

Xerzo LOTCN: Yeah~. Honestly I think I'd prefer long reviews to short reviews, but there's a point where it's too much. Let's get to responding:

Yeah, you are now Xerzo LOTCN the Very Longwinded, Reviewer First Class... you're forgiven... relearn how to make a paragraph?... well clearly Rook is mobility and Knight is... also mobility, so you can expect maybe Bishop and Queen will be mobility too... I need to remind myself of my ideas for those.

yep and yep on those next two points... he can't do an I.D. within an I.D... yeah, it's like "I'm so smart that I should logically be able to learn this entire fighting style just by studying it"... they just haven't been going out and killing super big and tough Grimm, at least not on the level of the low 100s, once they do that, the levels will start rolling in... yeah, but he's operating at 1/4th grinding capacity... yep yep yep on the stuff about the EXP-gain skill suggestion, I'm considering it, which is why I haven't deleted that out of my docs yet... well they have a week to form a bond and it's festival time, which might as well say "Boosts Relationship gains by Fuckton%"... I think it's safe to say it here: The last memory chunk will come at the beginning of Story Arc 3, also he gave Ruby a kiss (on the forehead) and complete that quest, the reason he had Ruby put her points in like she did is actually for the second quest's (one about getting Yang and Taiyang to stop coddling her) growth goals... yeah, Texas is awesome, ^W^

Ruby's purity quite literally shines through with the skill Castitas, but yeah, Jaune is basically forming Gemstone Knight (RWBYxJaune) without realizing it... Velvet and Coco are in chibi form, sitting in a box labeled "Possibilities", and also Amber isn't "saved", it's just that Jaune's aura has the mysterious property of being able to (as mentioned before) hold a patch onto the torn part of her soul so it doesn't leak everywhere, without that working, Amber goes back to being a vegetable, and also Yang will probs be pissed, and also NO because you are terrible because that's cucking and cucking is absolutely WRONG (though it might be done purely jokingly in an omake in the future).

Yeah, Cinder going to find herself metaphorically castrated when she makes the call for the attack, and Jaune "mind over matter" helps him greatly in acting like Adam would so he can convince them to pull off that metaphor, and also he's Thomas Darkly (I made his name a RWBY-fied version of Tom Hardy, who played Bane in the Dark Knight trilogy)... I don't think it was the faunus war, but if you must know, Old Man Jenkins (literally that's what he is) isn't racist, he fought alongside many faunus, along with Matthias Arc, in the war, and war buddies are basically half a step from actual family... yeah, poor Weiss and Blake. Still, I think it'd be funny, like... Neptune walks into the library and tries to flirt with Weiss, and Weiss is just like "I'm taken." and then he goes to Ruby, and Yang says "She's taken." and he looks at her and Yang's like "Oh I'm HELLA taken." and he attempts to look at Blake and she just instantly says "Taken." then he looks over at Pyrrha and Nora and Nora says "WE'RE ALL TAKEN! Move your flirts elsewhere!" and Neptune dejectedly walks off, aaaaaaand he sees Velvet, and opens his mouth and Velvet just says "Sorry, I'm also taken." and Neptune just slumps twice as low, XDDDDDDDDDDDDD but otherwise I can make things happen, don't you doubt that sonny-jim... that's a good idea, hehehhehehe... yeah, Jaune had to grab dat ass, it was pretty much necessary... that was Pluviteus, his WATER elemental, doing that, and yes if they can manage to use a certain skill (it has vague, but strict limits. One such limit is that the Elementals can only cast spells of their element)... yeah, Ruby needs her soul fix, she has a craving for them and must sate her hunger XDDDDDDDDDD... Marbel, Skyler, Nayro, and Thomas was a thought of mine... yeah, a party brings everyone together... as do hugs, and yeah, Ruby, Weiss, and Nora all, plus Ren, and don't feel bad, I legit had that idea too XDDDDDDDDDD... those two branches are at maximum level of the maximum rank.

Jaune didn't "finish" school, he dropped out to train as a Huntsman and going Beacon. Also yeah, Jaune is a french name, he was inspired by a french legend, so his family is in France because Occam's Razor. Marbel does not have the luxury of dropping out of civilian school because her huntress aunt doesn't have the authority to do that, and her parents aren't the keenest on their little princess going off to fight monsters, also the exact in-story date is April 26th, 2015, one month after he dropped out of school, and one month before Summer starts... yes, he will make her repent by trapping her in a cage of emotions... yeah gamer Jaune in canon world was slightly iffy for me too, I almost didn't feel like making a sequel, because it might ruin the originality and charm of the original, but I decided "Fuck it, I'll do what I can" and I did. C-Jaune weighed 500lbs because of his extremely high VIT and very high STR stats increasing the density of his bones, skin, and muscles, to the point that he weighed 500lbs before the Paladin transformation made him able to be that strong with half the density because magical DNA and shit... already planned on those illusions, buddy, same with the I.D. world... that is an interesting idea, but I already have a plan for that, and it involves one of Bon Jovi's hit songs.

That paragraph isn't completely pointless, and like I said I'd prefer a long, thought-out review to a short one like some of these people do where they just comment "thx" or a fucking winky face (you know who you are, people!)... anyways, that concludes this response.

Chaosstripe and LOBBERDARK: Thank you for your kind words.

Gerold (A guest): I'm... surprised, actually. I didn't think you'd own up to it, sir (I'm assuming if your name is Gerold then you're a sir, but sorry if I'm mistaken). That is very mature and polite of you, and I thank you for the honesty. You're forgiven, we all make mistakes and spout hyperboles sometimes, nobody's perfect. I applaud your bravery and strength of character, here is a cookie and a Chibi Ruby *Chibi Ruby looks at you with a sheepish, crumb-stained grin with her hands behind her back, trying to look cute and innocent*

Plasma Dragon 312: In-story time is two months and two weeks, currently. Chapter-wise, it's probably 6 chapters away (three more for SA2, two for SA3, and then the start of SA4)

thebebb: Yeah, that's one of my many worries about the extreme length... it's kinda awkward because not a lot of people can take all of my extreme length all at once, XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD sorry I HAD to make that joke once I thought of it. Still, I'll try to keep the next few chapters relatively short, hopefully only 20-30k words (excluding omake and ANs)

kaitenglory: Yeah, the actual person spoke up, which I find cool of him to do, and I know it's slow, but I'm going to be doing my best to cut a bunch of fucking stuff down so I can fit these chapters into "under 30k", which I might extend to "under 31k" just to give myself a bit of breathing room, but even then, there are things happening, and I'm compressing nearly 2 weeks of events into 1 chapter... I can't fit 1 week into 1 chapter because not only is that still too slow, but it also doesn't fit with what's all going on. Truly, the first week of Mistral is actually important, and the middle two weeks are a bunch of faff, and the fourth week is the Mistral Regional Tournament.

Trey of the rebellion: That would explain why the reference picture looked so odd. Honestly, I thought it was some kind of fire gem from Steven Universe (do the gems in that show do magic like that? I've never watched it)

Umm (anon): You bring up a good point, and dammit if hindsight isn't 20/fucking/20. I had originally planned for Jaune to come in and just fucking beat Dillan to death for his shit, but I'd gotten more than one or two reviews from people saying that Jaune was in the wrong or that Dillan was justified... I should have gone with my gut instinct. I might have a future scene where the asshole gets his rightful punishment, because you have opened my eyes, the situation was a LOT worse than my fatigued mind could recall, and looking back at it I was surprised I didn't put the pieces together.

Wafflez (anon): It's bad for you in large quantities if you don't have it managed. Jaune is pretty much making sure that nobody gets hurt from point usage by spamming heals until the negative side effects go away. In this chapter he gets a couple of much higher power healing spells to better do that with, so that becomes a little more feasible too. Also, in an emergency, the negative side effects come second-thought to the power needed in the moment the dump is made.

hirshja: Wow... I didn't realize how unique it was. I randomly saw the idea while going through the thread that was the story of TGWP, it was even a bit of a written omake, but the TGWP did his bullshit that basically meant he made himself appear as a villain and when he helped his canon self, he used illusions to hide the party invite, was actually dragging grimm into the path of Jaune's blade while he attacked an illusion of him. My Jaune of course decided to just directly ally with the canon Jaune, and you have seen the results of that... one thing can be said about my Jaune, and that is he is prideful, so he wanted the other version of himself to be powerful like he is. Of course, the canon Jaune doesn't have the insight the DGOL Jaune has, as well as has different experiences, so he chose to increase VIT... also, 'Jade' was not from the future in that case, he was actually from that exact same moment, when Beacon was just getting everyone to the school, just from the DGOL world instead of canon world.

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I am still looking for someone to make a cover image for this chapter... also, I have been listening a lot to a creator on YouTube called Jonathan Young, he makes metal covers of songs, and I think they're badass... alright, what else do I want to say?

Forum started, dunno if anyone saw that, or can see it, or can access it, or what. I'm still new to that aspect and will try my best to get you all informed about it.

I now have a more tangible goal for the next couple of chapters, plus what omakes will be done.

Chapter 19 (we are here): First week in Mistral, omake will be "Jaune pulling a Sans"

Chapter 20: Second and third week in Mistral, plus maybe one day of the Mistral Regional Tournament, omake will be "Gemline vs Spraymist"

Chapter 21: Fourth week in Mistral (the tournament), then pulling them back to Vale for mysterious bits, omake will be "Jaune gets Dragonball skills and becomes ten times more stupidly powerful"

Chapter 22: The events of the end of Story Arc 2, omake will be "Story Arc 2 credits/trailer/whatever you could call the thing I did in the omake for chapter 8"

Chapter 23: The start of Story Arc 3, which is the summer, and omake will be based on the events of Chapter 22.

Chapter 24: Part 2 of... I'm gonna say 4, just to be fair because there will be things going on during the summer, and omake will be an actual story idea I had (Jaune as Jade Hex story was an accident)

I think that's a little more defined, now I just need to worry about what exact content I'll be filling the wordcount with.

Oh hey, I had an idea too, one that's really sinister... so some of you might have seen Kong: Skull Island, right? And the Skull Crawlers? Yep... don't you think they look an awful lot like the Creep grimms?... Just let that sink in...

I don't know what else to say, so let's just start the chapter now, shall we?

Disclaimer: I only own my ideas that weren't made by anyone else before. I also realize it's been a damn long time since I've made a disclaimer.

Story Arc 2: Playing Prometheus

Chapter 19: The Mighty Moon among the Distant Stars.

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(several hours later, Southwest region of Mistral, Paris airship docks, Jaune POV)

It was with humble, yet confident steps that I strode off of the ship, Weiss following close behind. A perimeter was established with the dragon-disguised Gaster Blasters, along with several of the security team setting up a path for Weiss and I to follow. There were flashes of pictures taken, and Weiss did her best to smile for each one, but I could tell that it was grating on her nerves.

The others had already formed a circle around the limousine that was pulled up for Weiss, my dad, and I, and we all filled out the convoy, making our way to the hotel.

It was a rather boring ride, to be honest, but thankfully it was night time so we didn't have to deal with much traffic. Still, it was a long ride. Everyone besides myself, my father, and Ren and Nora all seemed to be feeling quite sluggish and lethargic. Thankfully nobody had slept yet, so we'd all be able to rest and wake up at a normal time in the morning.

We reached the hotel, and with a collective sigh of relief from all the others, we checked into the underground suite and made our way to it. I took a minute to observe everyone in the lobby, but paid most of my attention to the group.

We got to the suite and I made extra carefully sure that everyone got to bed and didn't pass out on the floor, which would suck.

Ruby and Yang shared their room, Nora and Ren shared another, then my father and I took one each for ourselves. The underground suite was very, VERY large, easily able to hold the four rooms, plus another, a living room, a kitchen, and a dining room. It was practically a sizable one-story house, for all its amenities.

I pulled myself fully onto my bed and settled into meditation, going for... several hours.

...(several hours later)...

Throughout the night, I focused on the elements and the world around me through them, gaining a couple hundred Max AP in the process as I hummed and drew upon the power of the world.

It was morning, not long after dawn, that I sensed someone enter the suite that wasn't Weiss or one of the security team members. In a second, I was changed into my combat outfit and had left my room, nearly drawing my sword as I faced the unfamiliar man. Well...

He wasn't entirely unfamiliar. I'd given his face a split-second glance in the lobby last night, but hadn't taken in his Gamer Sight info, just his face. Short stature, medium build, light greenish-yellow hair, navy-blue eyes, strong face, wearing a thigh-length black military coat over beige tunic and black pants. On his right hip was a broadsword with a dark blue handle, similar to Crocea Mors, though the crossguard was also blue, and flared out wider than what Crocea's had been.

I was confused for all of the two seconds it took to bring up and read his information.

Now, though? I saw why he'd bothered finding his way down here.

Rinku Arc
Title: An Unremembered, but Adamant Spirit
Level: 93

My sword rested partially unsheathed, and I noticed that in the split second I'd given him, he'd also partially drawn his own sword, which revealed its jade green blade. We stared at each other, then slowly sheathed our swords.

"So..." I said flatly.

He just grinned, "Welcome to Mistral, cousin!"

"..." I stared

"..." He stared

"... what?"

He looked confused, "You don't... well, your father's done a poor job, then." he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "My name is Rinku, and I'm your cousin, son of your father's cousin. We two are of nearly identical lines, holding the Forest Rain and the Yellow Death."

"I know you're my cousin, though that's an interesting piece of information... why are you here is what I'm confused about." I deadpanned at him.

His eyes lit up, "Ah, of course. Right, let me explain. We caught word of your travels and I insisted on being the one to greet you, since I'm the closest to your age, though I see you're pretty tall despite being my junior. Not too much of a surprise." he looked up at me, and I saw that he was about 5'7, but had an insane amount of HP, thanks to his semblance.

Hero's Constitution, it literally just increased his VIT, with a much smaller boost to STR, and a massive fucking boost to his Max HP and a somewhat less massive boost to Max SP.

I hummed, also finding that he was twenty, "I suppose. So, Rinku, where are the others?"

"In the Chateau d'Or Lune, of course. Surely you know about THAT, right?" he looked at me hopefully.

I nodded, "I do... I have a question... did my father have a bad departure?"

He hummed, tapping his chin, "No, all recordings both in memory and writing record your father leaving with much joy and celebration, heading to Vale, the home between the west and the east, to become a Huntsman and carry on the family line." he smiled at me, "And I see you're carrying on from his example as well."

I nodded again, "I guess you could say that. So, you're my cousin? Aren't all of the Arcs in the current generation my cousins?"

He drew his sword and gave me a small bonk on the head with the flat, "Silly cousin, while they are, I am the closest. We are of the two strongest lines in the family, the Moon, and the Ocean, descendents straight from the first two sons of Queen Samantha, daughter of King Arthur Creshus, which later evolved to Crescent, and then to Arc."

I hummed in surprise, "Well, I didn't know THAT. Pretty cool. Kinda like how Christmas and the word Charisma was named after Saint Nicholas Carushifus?"

He let out a delighted sound, "Ah, yes indeed. Same with the Crucifix symbol and the Cruciform shape, actually, all made by the same legendary man." he grinned, "So... coffee, or tea?"

I thought over it for about one second, "Definitely tea."

He grinned, "A fine choice." he led me to the kitchen and started the machine up.

We chatted while we waited for our drinks, mostly about the Arc Family, and how the castle had been moved from the Rome region to the Paris region, which was interesting, "Why is that?"

He just grinned at me, "Sex laws, the family needed expanding... plus in Paris there are no laws against sister-wives."

I blinked, "When you say-"

He just grinned, "I mean two sisters can marry the same man together and it's okay. All marriages here are legally valid across the globe as well."

I stared at him, "Are you trying to suggest what I THINK you're trying to suggest?"

"Looking into the small report given, and searching for the information, it was easy to find that Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose were sisters, given the moderate level of fame the Hunters Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose gained long ago. Of course, no reports are less than ten years old, but I could assume that would be because of Summer's unfor-"

I raised a hand to stop him right there, "I don't need to be reminded of why Ruby has nightmares." I said flatly, my tone utterly unamused, "Let's move on to a different topic, one that's feasible, since my heart only has Yang in it."

He chuckled, smirking at me, "Love like yours only multiplies." the fuck was THAT supposed to mean? "Regardless, show me Crocea Mors, I wish to compare it to Forest Rain."

I hummed curiously, "Why is it called that?" I pulled out Crocea Mors and laid it on the table.

He shrugged and placed Forest Rain next to it, and we both noted that his was visibly shorter and narrower than mine, "It's green. It was passed to the second son because it was the second blade. King Arthur, before his crusade against the Grimm that most historians call 'A lethal case of insanity that led to him being put down by his friend John', split Excalibur into three pieces, and split the sword of his most trusted knight, Saint George, into three pieces. One piece of Excalibur remained as Excalibur itself, one piece was washed with righteousness and became Crocea Mors, and one was fused with a piece of Saint George's sword Shatterspike. The three pieces from Saint George had a similar fate, with one remaining as the now purely ornamental Shatterspike, one washed with magic and named Forest Rain, and the third fused with the third piece of Excalibur to create a blade that... nobody knows what happened to it. Without the painting of him with five swords, there would be no proof that a fifth ever existed. The fused sword was honored by both names and dubbed Viridia Mors, the Green Death, a sword that would cut and shatter all foes."

I listened intently, noticing that Excalibur's level increased by nearly twenty from the explanation, "That's... pretty damn heavy information. Is it even okay to tell me that?"

He nodded, "Of course. As the latest of the Moon bloodline, it's your birthright to know the real story."

I hummed, "Well, I can accept that then. It's good to know, a little different from what the books say, but history is written-" I paused when a new window popped up.

QUEST RECEIVED!

Quest: Long Live the Chosen King.
Description: You have learned the Arc Family's current generation version of the Story of King Arthur. However, their self-assurance may contain flaws. Find some way to peer through the veils of the time and see the truth of the story, if it is not already known.

Objective: Find out the truth of the Story of King Arthur.
-Find out the identity of King Arthur
-Find out the identity of John the Strong
-Find out the identity of Merlin the Wise
-Find out the identity of Saint George
-Find out the identity of Knight Lancelot
-Find out the identity of Knight Gawain
-Find out the identity of Knight Geraint
-Find out the identity of Knight Percival
-Find out the identity of Knight Bors the Younger
-Find out the identity of Knight Lamorak
-Find out the identity of Knight Kay
-Find out the identity of Knight Gareth
-Find out the identity of Knight Bedivere
-Find out the identity of Knight Gaheris
-Find out the identity of Knight Galahad
-Find out the identity of Knight Tristan
-Find out what caused King Arthur's insanity
-Find out why King Arthur died
-Find out what happened to John the Strong
-Find out why John the Strong died
-Find out what happened to Merlin
-Find out why Merlin died

Rewards: +75% mastery of Excalibur, +4 STR, +2 DEX, +6 VIT, +3 INT and WIS, ?, ?, ?
Penalties: -50% mastery of Excalibur, -8 STR, -4 DEX, -12 VIT, -5 INT and WIS, ?, ?, ?

Time Limit: 1 year

I stared at the quest, then accepted it. A whole year to find out a story, when I could probably learn more about the story by upping and even prestiging Excalibur? Fuckin' easy.

"-a long time ago. My semblance, conjuring, is a bit of a 'ridiculously loose interpretation', I.E. I can also conjure knowledge, so if the records aren't perfect, I might be able to divine out the truth beyond them." I smiled at him.

He stared at me, then laughed out loud, "Sounds like the kind of bullshit we could definitely use, then. Might need to hang around some of the historical sights, then, so you can conjure up clearer knowledge." he gave a grin at me, "Speaking of hanging around, would you like to see the city sights with me, or stay here with your friends for the time being?"

It took me half a second to decide, "I'll be staying here, at least until they're all awake."

He nodded, "Alright, I suppose I can stay as well." and just smiled as he poured us some tea and sat back down across from me, smiling politely.

Just then, I heard one of the doors open, and my aura saw Ruby walking towards the kitchen, mumbling something about being thirsty. She reached the threshold and her eyes locked onto Rinku, "Guest? Jaune, who's this?" she cleared her throat, obviously still trying to get her brain up and running.

I smiled, "Ruby, this is my cousin Rinku, the latest of a second line of swordsmen tracing all the way back to King Arthur's time, over seven hundred years ago. Of course, I'm cooler."

Ruby blinked, "But he has like mega HP levels." she said suddenly, but covered her mouth a moment later.

My eye twitched under my illusion, and before Rinku could comment, I covered for her, "She means that you look really tough, and you clearly are. An Arc has to be tough, to do what is necessary to protect the innocent and the weak."

He smiled, nodding, "Well, thank you, Miss Rose. I must say that in person, you look much more mature and skilled in person. Were it not for you only wearing your pajamas, I might even be fearful."

I saw Ruby's face light up red as sleepiness burned away, and she looked at me with a desperate glint in her silver eyes, so I covered for her, "You should be afraid of her regardless, because she's fast enough that you wouldn't be able to hit her if you tried." not entirely true, he had 130 DEX, so he could pull off some crazy shit, but in terms of pure speed I knew that Ruby would win.

Ruby cleared her throat, "Can I just have coffee please?"

I nodded, telekinetically moving the just-finished cup over to her, "Here. Drink that and go get dressed." I smiled at her, and after the moment she'd passed out of earshot, I turned and glared at Rinku, "Stop, and you know exactly what I mean."

He looked surprised, "What? I don't, I really, REALLY don't."

That only intensified my glare, "You were trying to flirt with her, a girl five years your junior and not even in a Hunter Academy yet. Until that paperwork is processed, it's still illegal."

His navy blue eyes filled with shock and horror, "What? Oh GODS no, no no no no no, I was just being friendly, Jaune. I know not to encroach on another man's territory, especially when it's a young woman who will one day be an in-law. Dust, you're awfully protective of her."

I sighed, "She's precious to me, they all are, like an extended family of friends I've made through the process of becoming a Huntsman, and I love them all dearly, and knowing that you can take a beating, I WILL beat you if you try to flirt with any of them... except Ren, mostly because I think he wouldn't care enough about you to be offended." I couldn't help but laugh, and Rinku showed good faith by laughing with me.

"Well, I'll make sure not to do something as stupid as that, then." he grinned, "So... how did you come into ownership of Miss Schnee's contract?"

I made a brief show of 'conjuring' Crocea and Xibu to start cooking breakfast, "I bought it. The old manager was a total pervert and I didn't want Weiss to get molested. I had the money and saw the investment value, so I did it."

He stared at me, "... if that isn't the dumbest, most self-dubbed-hero thing I'd ever heard up. You spent millions upon millions of dollars just to save a random celebrity from getting molested?"

I sighed, "I can't explain it fully, but I was able to see her backstory, conjure it up really. I empathized with her plight, a self-sworn duty to uphold the family's honor, or rather restore it, seeing as Raureif Schnee kinda pissed all over it and tried to sell it as his grandma's fucking peach tea. I wanted to help her, so I took it upon myself to protect her during her tour and take her under my wing so she can learn how to be a Huntress. She certainly has the will inside her, she just needs help unlocking it." I smiled softly, "Plus, she's benefited from having friends she can talk to and laugh with and all sorts of normal friendly things. Poor girl didn't have any besides her siblings growing up." I frowned, I STILL didn't like that, the situation just sounded so... so FUCKED.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that despite your distance from the family, you still grew to have a big heart." Rinku smiled at me proudly.

I deadpanned at him, "My dad isn't THAT bad, you video-game-character asshole."

"Oi! Family made a deal for money and helping entertain the masses. Entertainment means less negativity, I did the world a favor."

"Sure you did, Mister 'Hero of Time'." I smirked at his reddening face, happy to have gotten the upper hand.

---

(Meanwhile, Ruby's POV)

Be still, my racing heart. I couldn't help but stay nearby, listening to Jaune talk to his cousin. My hearing and other senses had gotten a lot more keen with my heightened INT, which made sense since my brain was stronger. Hearing him coming to my defense, combined with what he said yesterday... I took a sip of coffee to calm my nerves, or at least shock the thoughts out of my head.

'Jaune, I want to...' I looked up at him, my lips parted.

He smiled down at me, gently taking my chin in his hand, 'I know, Yang told me, and she wants you to be happy too.' he lowered his face as I stood on my tippy toes.

Bliss~.

Our lips parted, and Yang spoke up, a couple of feet away, 'Sis, I know you're trying to be mature and stuffs, and I applaud that, but I think we need a test of your maturity. Don't worry, Jaune is very gentle and loving, he won't hurt you at all, even with his size.'

I blushed, nearly choking on my breath. Was I ready for this? I looked over and saw that Yang was in her underwear, and looked at Jaune and saw he was in his underwear too, when I suddenly felt a breeze and realized I was in my underwear as well!

Oh god, oh god oh god oh g-

"Castitas" level increased by 1!

I nearly choked on my coffee when I came up for air, realizing what happened. My traitorous mind was conjuring up more of those embarrassing thoughts and images. Yang wouldn't be so open with that, would she?

Not unless she and Jaune had... first... but...

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

I nearly slammed open our bedroom door and walked in, closing it much more gently, and looking to see Yang's sleeping face, only slightly disturbed by the noise.

I pouted, walking into the en-suite bathroom and turning the shower on. Once it was at the temperature I wanted, I went back to my bed and grabbed my bags out of the inventory, taking a few minutes to select my outfit from the limited selection... I settled on my normal outfit, and pulled it out.

With a sigh, I started getting for the morning.

---

(Meanwhile, Jaune's POV)

I waved Rinku goodbye, promising to meet up with him later on in the day, and went to go wake Yang up.

I could hear the shower running, and Ruby's distance told me she was in it, so I opened the door with a broad smile on my face...

... and caught an eyeful of Ruby naked...

... and swiftly closed the door, Jaune W: I'm so sorry! I thought you were already in the shower! :W I apologized swiftly, whisper-chatting so nobody else heard us..

Ruby's flustered response came ten agonizingly slow seconds later, Ruby W: I-it's okay, it was just an accident! Knock like usual, d-don't just assume! :W

I sighed. The one time, the ONE TIME I don't knock, and I accidentally see Ruby's boobies. Unfortunately, Snapshot Glance gave me a fuller image, if (thankfully) a blurry one. Still, the slight visibility of color that could only be pubic hair was enough to make me want to throw up.

NO!

BAD BRAIN!

Not that pubic hair was gross, but that it was the pubic hair of my girlfriend's little sister!

Jaune W: I usually do! I'm so, SO sorry Ruby, I didn't mean to peek, even by accident! :W

Ruby W: J-jaune, it's fine. You d-didn't know. I don't usually do stuff in this order unless I'm on vacation, s-so I probably need to just get out of that mindset and stuffs. It wasn't your fault. :W

Jaune W: Well it wasn't yours either. I was the one who didn't ask, even though I always should... you wanna just agree that we both fucked up and move past this? :W

Ruby W: Y-yes! From now on, please don't look at me naked without permission. :W

Jaune W: I won't... wait hold on, without permission? :W

Ruby W: GAH! That's not what I meant to say! Stupid brain, stupid puberty, stupid stupid! Don't look at me, I'm t-too embarrassed! :W

Jaune W: I-I'm just gonna wake Yang up now. :W

Ruby W: Y-yeah, you do that. I'm going to bathe. :W

Her distance changed, and I waited twenty whole seconds before walking in again, thankful that she wasn't there.

THAT... was uncomfortable. She was beautiful no doubt, but I felt wrong for acknowledging that.

I walked over to Yang's bed and sat down on the edge of it, smiling at her adorabeautiful sleeping face, gently petting her head and brushing my hand through her hair softly. I gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, feeling her arms wrap around me. I slowly, carefully lifted her up a little higher, rubbing my hand all the way from her upper back all the way down to the top of her ass, smiling and meeting her soft, full lips in a good morning kiss.

She stirred awake, practically purring against my lips, and snuggled into me, Yang W: Jaune? :W

Jaune W: Good morning, Sun Angel. :W

Yang W: Heh, you flirt, what's up with all the attention to my ass? You afraid it'll get cold without your hands insulating it? :W

Jaune W: I am a simple man, my girlfriend has a downright glorious ass, I feel the need to touch it. :W

Yang W: What about my boobs? :W

Jaune W: Only if you want me too. :W

I felt Yang's face heat up against my cheeks, Yang W: I do... :W

I opened my eyes partially, and Yang opened hers. Our gazes met, and with a soft sigh I moved my hands up and squeezed her practically cloudy-soft breasts, reveling in the smooth, soft skin, the perkiness, the bounciness, it was all so perfect, perfect for both of us.

Yang squirmed on my lap, which ended up rubbing her against my tenting crotch. After maybe fifteen more seconds, I took my hands off her breasts and placed them on her sides, holding her in place while I broke the kiss, a string of saliva connecting our mouths, "Yang... we should take things slowly. You know I don't want to rush and end up hurting you because we weren't ready."

She shivered slightly, "I... I know, but I... I'm finding it harder to help myself when it comes to this. Jaune, I know you don't want to hurt me, I know that, and that... that heartfelt sentiment is both an endearment and a turn-on..." she trailed off, staring into my eyes, purple turning into green, "I love this princess treatment, e-even if it's embarrassing sometimes... I've never met a guy with the balance you have, confident enough to not be a spineless coward, kind enough to not be a heartless bastard, you're... you're amazing, and I love you."

I couldn't help but blush, smiling at Yang and gently pulling her in, kissing her forehead, "I love you too, Yang. Honestly I think your breasts are so big because they're pushed outwards by your massive beautiful heart. You're kind, loving, generous, affectionate, beautiful in pretty much any way I can name, and you make me feel like the luckiest man in the world, and strong too, because when I think of you, and your precious smile and laugh, it just... makes me want to save that sight and sound forever." I kissed her again, and we shared a deep, love-filled kiss, emotionally charged but no less flavorful and sweet, breaking it maybe five or ten minutes later when I heard Weiss call out our and Ruby's names in the living room. I smiled at Yang, "Now then, my precious Sun Angel, you should get ready." I couldn't resist, and gave her a small slap on the ass, grinning as I stood up, turned, and set her on the bed with one last brief forehead kiss.

Yang gaped slightly, too shocked to react while I walked out of the room, but we both were smiling brightly.

I grinned, "Weiss! Stop yelling!" I yelled to her, laughing as we met with a brief hug, which surprised me "Uh... good morning, Weiss."

She smiled, "Good morning, Jaune." she tightened her grasp, trying to hurt me with the hug, but it didn't work.

I gave her a small squeeze of a hug, "Crushing me works better when you don't have noodle arms, Weiss." I chuckled, "So why the crushing attempt?"

"We have a photoshoot to do, unless you forgot. I'm not letting my reputation decay because you..." she paused, trying to guess what I was doing.

I helped her out, "Woke Yang up with a kiss?"

"E-exactly! Don't take so long! Let's go, alright?" she grabbed my sleeve and started tugging me towards the elevator.

I walked with her, not wanting to upset her further, "Alright, I'll have the others put some of the breakfast into the inventory. I gave Xiburichu specific instructions not to burn any of the food, so it should be good. They listen to me."

"Speaking of listening, are Ren and Nora awake? How about Ruby?"

"Ruby's bathing, Ren and Nora will be woken up soon. Now, let's get to it." I had let a few bits of info slide past the official documentation, like how we'd need limos to the photo shoots.

We could get there on our own, thank you very much.

---

(Hours later, Blake POV)

I stirred, poked by something hard and slightly pointy.

"Blake... Blake... Blake." that voice, I knew it from somewhere, but where? I was too groggy to think straight.

"What?"

"Blake, you're awake. That's good. I want to have a conversation." Skyler? It was Skyler.

"I'm trying to sleep, we can talk in the morning."

"Oh, okay. I only want to ask one question though. May I ask you one question?"

I groaned, "Sure, what?"

"What is love?" she asked sincerely.

I cracked open an eye, yellow meeting yellow, and poked my brain for answers, not wanting to wake myself up too much, "What kind of love?"

"Love." she answered simply.

"Uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh~... what's that thing Marbel and Jaune say?"

"Baby don't hurt me?" she recited, and I nodded, "I see. That's the answer?"

"I'm too tired to answer anything else. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Blake." I heard her walk away, and then the night was silent as I drifted off in my soft, warm bed.

---

(during the concert, Jaune POV)

It was really boring, mostly because 'Adam' had ordered the White Fang to not interfere with the concert in any way, so that their human ally could gather money and get the Schnee's favor.

I heard through my aura and found, more than a fair distance away outside, two faunus were walking down the street and talking about the White Fang, and how their new human ally would 'Catch the Schnee with her pants down and fuck her into submission'...

Nice to know they have such a strong opinion of me...

I sighed, and nearly zoned out as I watched not only the screen, but the entire area with the form of clairvoyance given by Biospiritual Integration. Literally nothing was happening except for Weiss singing. There was more space between the rows, which meant less seats, but the tickets were more expensive here.

Skyler W: Master, I have a question. :W

Jaune W: I may have an answer. What is it, Skyler? :W

Skyler W: Do you consider me similar to an offspring? :W

Jaune W: I... what? Um... well, I've raised you up from ignorance into awareness and from loneliness into togetherness, so I guess you could consider it like that. :W

Skyler W: I see... would you hurt me? :W

Jaune W: Only if you got hit by me while sparring, which is justified because we'd be battling. Otherwise, no. :W

Skyler W: I see... thank you, Master. :W

Jaune W: Why are you asking? :W

Skyler W: I am simply thinking things over. :W

Jaune W: Oooo...kay~? Well, good luck with that, Sky, don't do anything stupid, I don't want you to get hurt. :W

Skyler W: I... I appreciate the sentiment, Master. :W

Weird... I zoned back in to pay attention to all the nothing going on.

I listened in, then composed a text message telling everyone that I had an idea for something fun to do tomorrow. I'd spend some time with my cousin tonight, but tomorrow night would be what I believed could be a friendly competition.

Hehehehehe~

---

(The following night, Yang's POV)

Nora gave a cheer as she sent a Nevermore the size of a car rocketing away with an explosive strike.

It was impressive, but not nearly as powerful as I'd started to become.

My aura blazed like intense fire as I charged forward and jumped over the pincers of a desert Deathstalker, roundhouse kicking its stinger away and landing on its back, my fist crashing into its carapace and sending a spiderweb of cracks through it.

"Locomotive's Crash Strike" level increased by 1!

The style my dad had taught me, Flaming Dragon Locomotive, was one passed down through our family. It wasn't as grand as the Beast King styles, but it was damn good. It focused mainly on increasing my strength and attack power, sacrificing defense and even flexibility in the pursuit of more strength. I actually had a far better grasp on it than I did before, mostly because I was able to meditate and the Game would help me learn the skills, which is how I got the skill I was currently using over my arms and torso.

"Dragon's Flaming Scales" level increased by 1!

It damaged my HP extremely slowly due to how it didn't protect me against the flames, but I healed far faster than it burned me, not only because of my high HP and VIT, but also due to my Fire Affinity.

A Beowolf lept up and tried to claw a chunk out of my back, only for the fire to burst at it, shattering several scales but providing some protection and setting the thing's arm on fire.

I spun around and kicked the snarling beast in the chest, breaking its bones and killing it pretty much instantly. I then spun around and slammed my fist into the carapace several times, ending it with a final punch that shattered its armor.

Nora came in over my head and delivered a double strike, sending the stinger away again and swiveling around to deliver a devastating smash that killed the Deathstalker.

"Come on, I wanna win that scarf just as bad as you do!" Nora said with a bright grin as she lept off the dissolving scorpion and resuming running.

"Right!" I followed as fast as I could, hearing my aura hiss like steam as I focused on my speed.

---

(meanwhile, across the city, Ruby's POV)

"Come on, Ren!" I called out, seeing him starting to lag behind.

"I'm... coming... Ruby..." he panted, and I could see him focusing on his AP. We'd been sprinting for a while, and Jaune had specifically said 'No speed boosters'.

I effortlessly cut through several more beowolves like butter, turning to see Ren simply leap up and slam an aura-covered hand down on the back of a longhorn, causing its guts to burst out from below like an icky gore balloon.

He panted, getting closer to me, "Remind me... why... we're going after... a scarf?"

I kept running, making sure he stayed close, "Because it gives +50% defense against Grimm, which is WAAAAAAAAAAANT!" I lept over a piece of rubble.

Ren managed to keep up with me, "Ruby, I don't think you all realize that half-again defense against something is not equal to halving the damage taken."

I nearly tripped over my own shock, looking at Ren, "Wait... so then it..."

"If you have 100 defense, then it increases that to 150 when you're fighting Grimm. That is not the same as if a Grimm does 100 damage and that's reduced to 50 by the magic. I doubt Jaune would ever risk giving an item with THAT kind of power away, even to his friends."

I pouted, "Dangit, that sounded so insanely useful! Well... I'm a speedster and I'm not gonna let my sister win the race just because I had to carry you! Come on, pick up the pace, Ren! You can do it!" I cheered him on, catching sight of the scarf hanging off the flagpole in the distance.

Ren groaned and sped up slightly, which was awesome for me!

---

(meanwhile, Weiss' POV)

"Remind me why your father is just sitting at the flag pole drinking lemonade while we sweat over all these Grimm?" I complained to Jaune, who was busy cutting five Beowolves in half, with just one blow.

He grinned at me, "Friendly competition combined with some skill training and teamwork building. From what I can tell just by distance comparison, Yang and Nora have found their rhythm in nearly leapfrog-style attacks, while Ruby and Ren go for a Y-shaped pincer. You and I happen to take a staggered approach with me in front and you behind me, lashing out from the sides, which is also effective.

"Because you're using a sword and shield and I only have a sword, so you defend. Plus I'm fairly certain that I'm the more agile of the two of us, due to my lower inertia." I lashed out with a stab and sent a small bolt of lightning at a Vulcyrie, knocking it from the sky where Jaune easily cut it to pieces, "And I can do things like that, since you limited yourself to only physical attacks."

He nodded, "On the dot once again, Weiss. You're a smart girl, but I'm much better suited to taking hits. You just focus on using those dust attacks, and I'll keep you safe, okay?" he smiled that damn, blasted, unbearable smile at me that made my face grow uncomfortably warm.

"O-okay." I coughed out, getting back into a run, "So the prize is your scarf?"

He nodded, "I can get another one if I actually go looking for another Crype Keeper Blightus, but I don't think I have to, and I'll tell you why." he grinned, then pulled me up onto his back, "Because we're going to win this race. Why do you think I split Nora and Ren, and Yang and Ruby up? It was also to ensure that they didn't win. Now then, let me just not use a speed booster." he suddenly switched his classes to Ninja V2 and Assassin V2, then took off running, "Make sure to launch spells so we aren't breaking the rule of 'you have to kill almost every grimm on the way'."

I nodded, holding on tightly as he took off, though thankfully it wasn't anywhere close to his usual speed. Myrtenaster flicked side to side, sending flashes of Dust power at the Grimm.

We raced towards the center of the city, and I couldn't help but laugh a little as I felt the rush return.

However, I felt Jaune tense greatly as we grew very near to the center of the city, "Is something wrong?" I asked, a little worried.

"Yes, yes it is." he said, and sped up with the glow of his Aurora, nearly causing my to lose my grip.

It took only a minute for us reach the center, and I saw why he was tense.

Information from Gamer's Sight popped up as I stared at the strange platinum-blonde man.

Nighdris Arc
Title: He whom Redraws the Stars
Level: 114

"Ah, nephew, hello again." he bowed slightly, smiling brightly.

Jaune glared at him, "I don't recall meeting you... how did you get in here?"

"Ah, this Mirror-Word, or 'Illusion Dimension' as you call it, was rather easy to enter, actually. I sensed it in the city and entered, trying to figure out who was using the ability. Imagine my surprise when I see my cousin lounging next to a flagpole with a destroyed city around him. It was shocking to say the least." he chuckled, one hand brushing his coat off. I noticed he had a bandoleer of dust canisters over his chest, the straps made of some sort of purple mesh.

"You have the ability to sense these?" Jaune raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Well, it's part of my semblance, which allows me to distort space. It's also why these things don't blow up when I get hit." he looked at me as he gestured to his bandoleer, "Purified thaumium from Feauricus back at the Chateau, terrific at channeling aura and more specifically, semblances. Any attack simply gets shunted away by my semblance used as a shield." he chuckled, "So, this is where you were when Rinku said he couldn't find you. I detected the celestial energy when I got close to the center of the city, entered, and now here we are."

Jaune's father simply laughed, "Hey, remember when Cerulius got pissed that we kept pulling the 'water bucket on the door' prank on her, and you teleported your bucket of milk over her head?"

The man laughed, "Oh my, I remember that. Sadly it was before I knew how to orient things with a teleportation, and so she just ended up getting hit over the head with a bucket, then collapsing and getting milk spilled over her. I think my rear end is still sore from the whipping I got that day, might have even been why I got lactose intolerant."

I perked up slightly, "You became lactose intolerant after experience something traumatic associated with milk?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, but it could be the case."

I felt a surge of relief, "I think it might be. I got the same with air sickness and airships."

Immediately, Jaune had pulled me closer, obviously worried that I'd somehow shatter if I thought about my condition for more than five seconds. It didn't prevent me from shattering, because I wasn't going to in the first place, but it did help me feel a little warmer. Nighdris hummed in contemplation, stroking his chin, "Well... I can see the correlation. I might do a study on this." he smiled at me.

Jaune cleared his throat, "I'm going to have to send you out of here before the others arrive. I don't want to worry them by giving them the idea that the IDs aren't safe."

He nodded, "I understand completely, Jaune. I'll show myself out. I'll see you in an hour?" Jaune nodded, smiling slightly, and a mix of whitish-purple and cyan aura saw him disappearing from sight.

I sighed, "That man was odd."

Jaune's eyes were hard as he glared at the spot Nighdris had been standing in, "He was able to get into my I.D... I need these things to be safe. It might only be because his semblance gave him the necessary power to interact with gravity/time/spatial magic like this, but... he knew what these are, if by a different name. I think the family has some books on the subject... which makes me want to go check out their library." he got a gleam in his eyes, "Anyways, let's get this thing down now." he started lowering the scarf from the flagpole, grinning slightly, "I still love this thing, it's stylish and kickass."

He pulled it off the cable and wrapped it around his neck, smiling at me, "So, Weiss, do you think you have what it takes to go find another Crypt Keeper Blightus and get one of these?"

I nodded, "It sounds worth the risk." I reached out and felt at the scarf, "Oh wow, it's very soft. What kind of material is this?"

He just grinned at me, "Spider silk. All the scarves are spider silk."

Fear clenched my throat like an iron fist, and I looked down at the soft blue scarf wrapped around my own neck, which suddenly felt like it was full of prickly legs, and-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

---

(a few minutes later, Jaune's POV)

"... okay, that's my bad." I stared at Weiss' somewhat blue, but quickly reddening face, locked halfway in horror and halfway in catatonia from how she'd fainted. Thankfully I'd caught her, "Well, she hates spiders."

"I'm pretty sure most girls hate spiders, son." my dad said with a laugh, "And I'm pretty sure her screaming was assisted by her singer's lungs." he was fine thanks to the soundproof barrier I'd set up to make sure she didn't deafen the others. My god her screams were awful.

If I had to complain about one thing about Weiss, it would definitely be her almost banshee-like screams.

I gently shook her away, gently rubbing the skin of her neck.

She awoke with a slight jitter, looking around, "Gah, huh? What? Where?" she blinked, "Oh god, not the spiders."

I sighed softly, giving her a shake, "Weiss, you are definitely powerful enough to kill any disgusting spiders that get in your way. Plus, the silk isn't dangerous at all, it's soft and comfortable and I'd honestly wear a whole outfit out of it if I could, it feels so damn nice." I smiled at her, "Now come on, the others will be here soon."

Sure enough, Ruby and Ren arrived only fifteen seconds later, the former pouting when she saw me already there and wearing my scarf, while Ren collapsed again, looking like he'd been worked to the bone, "Aw COME ON! I bet you two didn't even fight the grimm!"

I smirked at her, "We killed the Grimm, yes. I didn't use anything besides physical attacks. Still, the lesson here isn't that Jaune likes to bend the rules based on the spirit of his wording, it's that you should be able to work well with one another. Have you figured out any sort of team attacks while you were trekking here, or were you too focused on the scarf?"

Ruby gaped slightly, then collected herself, "We did this one thing where we spun around together and cut up and shot the Grimm away. That was pretty cool~." she made to try to take my scarf, but I gently slapped her hand away.

She tried again, and I slapped her hands away again. This triggered a brief battle of hands that ended with my pulling her into a hug, preventing further attack, "You might be a badass, Rubes, but you're still adorable and silly."

She let out a whining sound, and I just patted her on the back, "You cheated~."

"I didn't cheat, I followed the rules as given, I just happen to have ways to work around the rules." I chuckled, smiling at her and letting her go. I noticed Ren looking at me oddly, and I raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm pretty sure you've seen hugs before, Ren. What's with that look?"

He cleared his throat, sitting up, "I busted my ass to get here with Ruby to get that scarf, and you'd already taken it... I knew you'd have already taken it." his expression had a split-second falter, hardly enough time to register, but there was discomfort in his expression before it was washed away by a flat mask of pure annoyance.

I brushed it off, figuring he was just in pain, "Well, you're definitely wise, Ren. Come on, get up. You need healing." I cast a supercharged Soulforge on him, as well as a supercharged Rejuvenating Breath, which was a massive help to him. I also renewed the Lifeforce Regeneration buff on all of us present, and cast it at Nora and Yang when they arrived. I greeted Yang with another kiss, smiling at her, "Not nearly as slow as before. I see you've definitely been working on your speed, baby girl."

Yang gave a small laugh of nothing but joy, giving me a slight punch on the shoulder, "Well it was either that or have Nora leave me behind, and I don't think Nora's dust would taste very good."

We shared a brief laugh before I looked at Nora, "So... you and Ren are the only two without elementals. Want to take care of that?"

She grinned, "AWESOME!"

Ren groaned, "Give me a minute." he sounded a lot less tired than before, but the thing about rejuvenating breath was that it was only temporary. It would wear off, but hopefully Ren would have recovered some more by then.

With a hum, I focused on my elementals, and combined the Xiburichu, Pluviteus, and Juristimunja. The result was usually a blood-red liquid humanoid that wore a light armor of shiny red plates that had arcs of lightning running along them, an elemental named Nergen, whose power was over Electrolytes.

Well, I focused on a buff.

By combining the elements Fire, Water, and Lightning into a spell made to boost the body, you have learned the skill "Invigoration Surge"!

Holy shit... this thing was damn useful. Instantly restores 1000 HP and 1500 SP, plus a nice little boost to HPR and SPR? YES PLEASE.

It wasn't perfect, no, but it was pretty damn good. Expensive for the effect, but I more than enough AP to pay for it with.

Nora helped Ren up, and my dad looked over all of us, mainly those who were winded, "Well... I think we should all rest up for the day. Ren and Weiss, you two should work on cardio, and Yang, it couldn't hurt to improve it a little."

Yang groaned, breathing heavily. I sighed softly and just healed everyone, then pat Yang on the back, "It can't hurt, Sunny. In fact, I think we all should improve our VIT some." I idly leaned my head over and kissed Yang's cheek, smiling at everyone, "But definitely good work everyone, I doubt we'll be running many marathons as hunters in training, but it can't hurt to be fit enough to be able to run one and still keep going." I explained, "For now, though, I think you all deserve a rest. We'll pick this back up tomorrow."

I took them back to the room, then slipped back into I.D., using the knowledge I'd previously gained to expand my APR and extend the ID Day to triple the length of a normal day, then looked at the summoned Crocea Mors and Roimontagne, "Alright... first I want to be poisoned to the point that it's just barely less effective than the remainder of my combined APR and HPR, since the two values are combined thanks to Ki Body being up all the time. In addition, after that, I want the two of you to utterly shred me while I do push-ups with a large amount of weight on my back."

The two looked at each other, but did as I commanded. Tokyrus stabbed me with his metal scorpion tail, injecting me with a powerful poison. My body grew cold as the poison spread throughout it.

And then pieces of my liver spread over the asphalt as a metal rod blasted through my body. I coughed up blood, keeping my numbers under close observation, since I didn't feel like actually dying.

I focused halfway on the numbers, and halfway on Soulforge Restoration.

I used some Dust crystals with Soulforge, to enlighten myself on both.

The process was similar to how the Elementals were formed, but so very different.

Infusing the body temporarily with the effects of the elements, and with Dust, was like an injection of a stimpak or a medicine, it worked only for so long, and then it must be renewed.

Empowering yourself with the elements of nature, it was an old practice, very old. Increasing your power with Nature itself was something almost as old as Dust itself.

It was Nature's bounty that helped mankind rise from darkness and shine their light into this bleak world. However, as with anything that grew in power, it would reach a plateau that could only be broken through when the extra pieces were stripped away, and the core itself was strengthened and not just dressed up into power.

Focusing on the process, on how a burst of aura that reached out to another soul, could help that soul mend its coil, it was something intimate, warm, pure, good, and whole. Examining it, and comparing it the other healing spells I'd seen, I then saw the truth, and decided to mix it up by comparing it to what I had previously perceived.

By raising "Soulforge Restoration" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Soulforge Reparation"

-/\-

Soulforge Restoration (Active) Level: 99, Exp: MAX, Cost: 40 AP
In a world full of darkness, Man learned to create new light. They learned through study and experience that the soul is something infinite in distance and unbound by death. By releasing it, they found immortality even in their own passing. The old race of warriors known as the Spellwarriors created a technique to bestow their souls with the bounty of Nature's Might through the power of Dust, as well as mend their wounds and cure their ailments.

Used without Dust Crystal, 500 HP restored, low-ranking Illnesses removed.
Used with Dust Crystal, 500 HP restored, 300 AP restored, low-ranking Illnesses removed, variable effects dependent on type of dust.
Status Effect duration: 120s

-/\-

Soulforge Reparation (Active) Level: 1, Exp: 0.00%, Cost: 2000 AP (prestiged from Soulforge Restoration)
In a world plagued by darkness, Man learned to create new light and cast it upon the land. Learning of the infinite distance of the soul, healers rose to shine a merciful light upon those enshrouded in the war against the night. A former Spellwarrior shared their knowledge with the healers, who lifted it to new and greater heights by purifying and empowering the process within, then further bolstering it with Nature's Might through the power of Dust, allowing them to heal wounds otherwise irreparable, and cure ailments that had previously held Man against the brink of death.

Used without Dust Crystal, 2500 HP restored, mid-ranking Illnesses removed, mitigates some negative status effects, low-ranking negative status effects removed
Used with Dust Crystal, 2500 HP restored, 1500 AP restored, mid-ranking Illnesses removed, mitigates some negative status effects, low-ranking negative status effects removed, variable effects dependent on type of dust.
Status Effect duration: 30s

-/\-

I hummed in satisfaction, pleased with my new insight, as well as feeling a certain purity in my soul after the prestige, like a puddle of blood had been drawn into a tube, cleaned, and prepared for injection. I almost felt like I'd been trying to grasp the power with my fingertips, but now I'd taken ahold of it with my whole fist.

Reaching a new level of healing proficiency has unlocked the class "Cleric v3"!

I held out a hand, clenching it into a fist as fire blazed around me. I had to define and empower the core in order to make the extra pieces more effective, so they too could grow...

I looked at Xiburichu as I came to another realization. The flames grew hot and intense enough that the metal and stone rods lodged in my body all melted and dripped out of the holes they'd formed.

A harshly burning ball of flames formed in his hand, and an exact copy formed in mine.

We roared in unison as we clashed, exchanging flames as we challenged each other.

This continued for hours, long enough that I'd removed my clothing to avoid it being burnt and restored more than it already had. Fire met fire, feeding off of each other.

My flesh was hot and swollen, Xiburichu was struggling to hold himself together.

We roared and blazed brightly, casting away the darkness and burning away the taint of the Grimm.

By raising "Elemental Aura" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Elemental Aurora"!

He disappeared, but my new skill burned intensely as I was coated in flames. I took in a breath, then let out the song of the Vermilion Bird, scorching the street and melting nearby cars that hadn't already done so.

The flames shifted, becoming structured and purple-colored, streaks of silver swirling up as I changed elements.

Elementally created steel formed a blade in my hand, then a shell of armor solidified around me.

I grinned, "THIS... is just what I needed." I dismissed the sword, focusing solely on weighing myself down.

...(many hours later)...

I pivoted my body, ready to repeat the process again. I had formed these weapons days ago, but now I had a great opportunity to utilize it.

Argenta Percutio, Silver Strike.

A long shaft ending with a large hammer head. I smashed a charging Longhorn Matadae out of its path, pirouetting again and smashing a Boabatusk's skull into mush. Suddenly, the weapon mechashifted, and one side of the head collapsed in, then broadened out into a bearded axe, which I used in an overhead chop to cleave an Ursa in two, following it up with by suddenly turning and beheading a Vulcyrie.

Then, it shifted again, the axe blade jerking upwards, then stretching outwards like an elbow, forming a scythe blade that I swept across a charging pack of Beowolves, bisecting them all. A moment later, a Kitsuninja met its dismembered end as I cut it up like a sausage, ending with decapitation.

Finally, I shifted it again, the blade coming up again and straightening out into a large, sturdy spearhead. I sidestepped a Deathstalker's attempted tail jab, dashing forward past its claws and stabbing it in the eyes, whipping Crocea Mors out and slicing its tail off, then taking the spear in a reverse grip and stabbing into its eyes again, taking them out one by one while dodging its pincers, feeling one crush against my leg. I clicked my tongue and Excalibur sliced the offending appendages off, followed by the tail. Now free to take it down, I called upon my strength and slammed the sharp tip of the spear down with over a ton of force.

*CRACK*

Piercing its hard, but brittle plates was easy, needing only half my full strength with the reinforced titanium spearhead. I grinned and jabbed it several more times, breaking its armor into pieces, then spinning the spear around to utilize its other feature, a high caliber assault rifle.

I then switched weapons once the beast was dead, backflipping high into the air while Vacuan string instruments played, the wind stilling as I reached my apex and pulled out my next weapon.

Gladia Profectus, Blade Progression.

At first, it just looked like two ninjato blades (which counted as katanas to my skills) back to back, giving it a double-edged blade, with a large block of metal at the base to reinforce them.

A Kitsuninja met me when I hit the ground, its incredibly fast punch caught on the blade of one of the katanas, slicing its fingers off. Several rapid swings cut through its body like butter, but its gibs were blown apart by a charging Longhorn Matadae. I dodged out of the way, mechashifting the weapon to its next form.

The block of metal extended upwards, along with the two blades, linking together to become a zweihander. Now of course, given my incredible strength, a zweihander had to be MUCH heavier than a normal historical blade before it was heavy enough that I needed to use two hands to wield it properly, but that wasn't an issue after I'd gone and acquired through purchase, small theft, and mining, a couple tons of titanium.

Grinning, I lept up onto its back and carved a great furrow through its muscles, causing it to buckle from the pain and fall, sliding across the pavement as it recovered. I hopped down and cut one of its legs off before it could get up, leaving it vulnerable for a mighty overhead swing that took its head off.

Then I heard a whistling sound, and the sword shifted and expanded out to the size of a gigasword, about six inches wider and longer than Qrow's sword, and possessing two edges. A massive feather struck the flat, the tip shattering as a few feathers either grazed past the literal tons of armor covering my body, or broke on my sword.

I looked up when the storm had passed, seeing the giant nevermore overhead. I grinned and leaped into the air, my legs shattering the street with the force of my Power Jump, as I flew up into the sky, Gladia Profectus gleaming like a streak of silver lightning through the sky. I spun around, chopping off one of the massive raven-like Grimm's wings, reaching my apex thanks to resisting winds, looking at it.

Through its very slightly intelligent mind, it seemed to hold fear in its eyes, "Good... fear me, for I am your reaper." I spun around like a top, meeting its armored flesh with a modest amount of difficulty, but not enough to prevent me from passing my sword all the way through its body. I came around again and essentially sliced through it like a slow circular saw.

I fell from the sky, but while I did, a Vulcyrie tried to run me through with its spear, but I used my movement control and flexibility to pirouette past it as I switched to my third weapon.

Ferro Geminae, Iron Twins.

A long titanium dagger blade shot out from the blacksteel handle, stabbing into the beast's throat and carving it out. I spun as it lengthened, taking only a second to turn long enough to split in the middle into a pair of nunchaku, held together by a hardened and tempered bluesteel chain, I swung it between my hands before it lashed out and knocked aside the bony throwing knives of a Kitsuninja, which I flew closer to with the VB Tailwind Charge, which basically gave me a tailwind usually as I ran, but in the air could help me move forward.

I cracked it over the head while pushing aside its fist, shattering its mask. We pushed off of one another and landed on the back of a Owanshee, which screeched at us both.

The kitsuninja entered a stance as I mechashifted the nunchaku into their other form, and as it charged, its head burst from Mana Shotgun impacting it, the handle having shifted into a magic pistol.

The Owanshee screeched again, but I didn't mind it as I went up to its head, firing Mana Shotgun pretty much on full auto from the gun, earning several levels in the skill as I cut its HP down, eventually killing it as I opened a massive hole in its head.

We fell to the ground, though I kicked off at the last moment, landing me safely on the street.

Cracking my neck, I put the weapon away and checked my notifications, since the position of the provided images of the true sun told me that it was nearly dawn. There were stat gains, skill prestiges, and even classes unlocked.

Enduring extreme exercise has increased STR by 2!

Pushing yourself to move quickly and wield weapons effectively despite being extremely encumbered has increased DEX by 2!

Enduring unbelievable damage and physical strain has increased VIT by 2!

-/\-

By raising "Hammer/Mace Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Hammer/Mace Proficiency"!

By raising "Axe Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Axe Proficiency"!

By raising "Scythe Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Scythe Proficiency"!

By raising "Spear Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Spear Proficiency"!

By raising "Polearm Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Polearm Proficiency"!

By raising "Assault Rifle Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Assault Rifle Proficiency"!

By raising "Katana Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Katana Proficiency"!

By raising "Zweihander Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Zweihander Proficiency"!

By raising "Gigasword Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Gigasword Proficiency"!

By raising "Dagger Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Dagger Proficiency"!

By raising "Nunchaku Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Nunchaku Proficiency"!

By raising "Pistol Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Pistol Proficiency"!

By raising "Shield Proficiency" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Shield Mastery"!

By raising "Shotgun Skill" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Shotgun Proficiency"!

-/\-

Possessing impressive skill with hammers, great physical power, and a strong lightning affinity has unlocked the class "Asgardian Warrior"!

Possessing impressive skill with axes, great physical and mental power, and a strong bond with nature has unlocked the class "Forest Spellblade"!

Possessing impressive skills with spears and polearms, great physical prowess, and a strong fire and air affinity has unlocked the class "Dragoon"!

Possessing impressive skills with assault rifles, pistols, and shotguns, great physical prowess, and a strong earth affinity has unlocked the class "Trench King"!

Possessing incredible skill with katanas, great physical prowess, and a strong air affinity has unlocked the class "Jetstream Samurai"!

Possessing impressive skills with zweihanders and gigaswords, great physical prowess, and a strong earth affinity has unlocked the class "Jabberwocky Hunter"!

Possessing incredible skills with daggers, pistols, and swords, great physical prowess, and a strong air and metal affinity has unlocked the class "Hashashin"!

Possessing impressive skills with swords, daggers, zweihanders, gigaswords, and katanas has unlocked the class "Blade Master"!

Possessing incredible skills with swords and shields, and great physical power has unlocked the classes "Knight", "Knight v2", and "Knight v3"! Further reinforcing your power with mental prowess and a strong metal affinity has unlocked the class "Knight v4"!

Possessing impressive skills with magic, great physical prowess, and a strong magical power has unlocked the class "Magic Knight v2"!

Possessing incredible skill in striking foes down, as well as many forms of combat, you have unlocked the class "Battle Master"!

I grinned, dismissing them all and checking out the new skills. As expected, they simply grew off of the previous skills' boosts, most of the 'metamorphosis' aspect being in the practical part of the skill, AKA the part that represented my actual skill in effectively and accurately using the weapons, rather than the numbers that the skills boasted.

Cracking my neck, I called it a day, redressed, and appeared back in normal space.

... (a few minutes later) ...

I sent a message to Rinku, who I'd exchanged info with before we left Paris, and apologized for not being able to spend more time with the family. I sighed as it went through, putting away my scroll and teleporting back to the hotel.

I appeared in the living room, thankful that these big hotels have these things. I mused over it. It was usually reserved for government officials, but we'd just missed a wave of political meetings and had the places all to ourselves.

Sighing, I began cooking breakfast, and had just began plating it up when Ruby and Nora got up. I smiled at the two of them, "Good morning, girls. Did you sleep well?"

Nora grinned, "Yep yep yep! I feel sore from training last night, though." she pouted and rubbed her shoulder.

Ruby did the same, "I got slammed through a building by a Miraganger Star, lucky those things can't make IDs inside your IDs, Jaune."

I hummed, then decided to put one of my new skills to the test, "Well, lucky for you two, I prestiged Soulforge Restoration last night after I focused on it and learned more about it. Here." I switched to Cleric v3, which added the factor of healing spells more efficiently restoring blood and bones. However, the factor I wanted was the trait Divine Mercy, which let me alleviate their pain at no extra cost. I cast it and they both let out sounds of surprise.

Nora shook slightly, grinning, "Wow! That felt really cool."

Ruby flushed, "I feel a little sick."

I paused, then realized my mistake. There was a flare of power from her Aura, lasting only a second before fading away. That strange power, Darkened Warrior, it was tied to her blood, and using a skill that boosted her blood was asking for trouble. I was lucky I didn't overcharge it! I switched back to my normal titles, which earned me another level in Roleplaying, which was another level closer to getting me a third class slot, "It's okay, Rosie. You'll be fine." I stepped over and pat her on the back, giving her a slight hug to help her feel better, "You're strong, I bet you already feel better." I smiled at her.

She smiled back, "Heh, yeah, I do. I only felt a little sick. You don't have to take everything with us so seriously."

I blinked, then sighed, "I can't NOT. You're all dear to me, less-so for Nora and Ren, but you two are catching up. You're excellent fighters and friends." I'd listened in to the new spice their contribution to the conversations that pervaded the voice chat for many, MANY hours of the day, and the others were taking to them like fish to water.

"Oh, hey, speaking of healing stuffs, Jauney, I was playing around with Ren last night, the usual stuff we do, but he said that his knee hurt from training, so I helped with that Soulforge skill, and I found THIS skill leveling up." she opened up a skill window and showed us.

Benevolentia (Passive & Active) Level: 2, Exp: 23.53%
The loving-kindness that soothes the flames of Wrath and mends that which it would destroy. This skill greatly bolsters one's Aura so as to allow it to mend wounds and reinforce the body, so that the owner and the ones they love shall not perish.

Increases the effectiveness of all Healing and Support skills by 103%
Increases the HPR and SPR boosts of the owner's Aura by 51%
Increases owner's Max HP by 10%
Increases Ease of Casting for ally-targeting skills by 102%

I hummed, "Well, it seems like you and the others are getting them. Yang has a skill like that, as do Ruby and Blake. It's some kind of power based on virtue. Benevolentia is a cognate, thankfully. Benevolence, much like the other three, Charity, Chastity, and Temperance, seems to grant you this... special power based on the concept of the word." concept-based powers? I was masquerading with such a power as my semblance. Conjuring, or more accurately the concept of conjuring, which was less bullshit-level awesome than The Gamer. Hell, The Gamer itself was a concept-based power.

Taking the knowledge into account, I went back over the mental recordings of the others' powers, finding it to line up rather well.

Yang's was a healing spell, being charitable and restoring another's aura at the cost of her own. Ruby's was a defensive spell, allowing her to remain pure and safe from harm against outside forces. Blake's was a support spell, boosting other spells by allowing her to charge them up to increase their power. Unfortunately, her Aurora made that power sort of moot, but it had other aspects, and I felt it would grow to have a net gain in its power distribution.

I smiled at Nora, "Well, it seems that you really are a good person, full of positivity and ready to help others."

Nora grinned, "Awesome! I mean, I do care a lot about my friends, since you're all so cool and nice and friendly and great to talk to, so I guess it makes sense that I got a power that lets me help my friends when they're down! Nobody should be down, and-" I smiled as I tuned her out. She was great, but she talked.

A lot.

As in more than the second, third, and fourth most talkative other people in the group all combined.

Still, she had some interesting stuff to say sometimes.

The others filed in for breakfast, while I contemplated what to do for tonight's training. Weiss had more stupid photo shoots to do, but thankfully we could either run or just teleport there.

Honestly, it might have just been catharsis for my own incredibly fast cognition, that I started running multiplications in my head and working on how to best improve myself. I was still wearing my built-up armor, weighing a total of thirty tons. It was spread throughout my entire body, but it was still thirty tons. The only reason it hadn't torn my body open like a lobster was because of my incredible bodily reinforcement.

I cracked my neck, and went to wake Yang up.

---

(The next night, Jaune POV)

I cracked my neck, smiling at the others as I watched them from atop of consolidated tower. We were currently in Genoa, in the Rome region, AKA South Mistral.

Yang was resting against my left side, Ruby against my right, Garnet playing with the patterns on the back of my robe.

It was with telekinesis that I continuously practiced my skills Dust Weaving, Dust Alloy, Dust Ink, and Dust Consolidation.

Simply put, I kept recycling the Dust I used by putting it into the threads and metals of the Dust Weaving and Dust Alloy, then used my control over water and metal to draw it back out and form Dust Ink, then I isolated the solid precipitate Dust and shifted it between powder and crystal forms a few times, before repeating the process.

Once we hit Rome, I'd have to deal with the White Fang again, sadly. It pained me that I wasn't able to spend time with my family, but I'd have to meet with those damned terrorists.

Thankfully, though, I'd managed to make something to make up for my absence in Paris, if only partially.

You created the armor "Moonfire Stormblade Robe".

It was a robe with the Double Crescents on the back, similar to the Rinku's coat and Nighdris' robe.

Except I'd gone for the kind of robe from Assassin's Creed, with a peaked hood and sash at my waist. In addition, I'd altered and grafted one of the blade mechanisms from Jade's weapons, Iron River, as well as the whip system from Navio's Bloodlash, onto my gauntlets. I'd broken the gauntlets of Iron River up fully and put a hidden blade into each of Ember Celica, then took the actual metal for the gauntlets and made the design sleeker and lighter, housing the final claw as another hidden blade for Ruby to use, as well as the boots he'd had.

The current objective was to simply destroy the city as fast as possible.

I grinned softly, hugging both Ruby and Yang, "I love you two, you know that? My girlfriend, and my second best friend." I gave them Yang a kiss on the cheek and Ruby a kiss on the top of her head, "Moments like right now... I think this is worth fighting for. The peace we can enjoy, even if just for a little while, is worth the chaos of battle." I sighed happily.

Ruby looked up at me, "I wouldn't figure you'd feel that way. You make us train every night."

I smirked, "Well, it's better to have strength and not need it, than to need it and not have it." I ruffled her hair.

Yang shifted slightly, hugging me, "Heh, good way to put it. So... how far have they gotten?"

I gazed out over the ruined city, noting the destruction, "About one quarter of the whole city. Ren once again is looking pretty tired... hmmm... he's been going like this for like 4 days in a row now, you'd think that he'd have improved his physique and gotten more Max SP, what with my healing spells allowing him to ." I hummed. It was probably part of why Invigoration Surge helped him a lot.

Everyone had their problems. Ruby's body was full of 'dark warrior blood', and her Aura seemed to almost be actively resisting increasing in mass. Yang had issues based in abandonment and heartbreak, which was a big reason I would never leave her. Not only would I never want to lose her, I never wanted her to lose me.

Blake had confidence issues, Marbel was adjusting to Hunter life, and then Nora and Ren had more physical problems.

While she was tough, I had a feeling that most of Nora's VIT was attributing to SP and not HP, while Ren had the opposite problem. It wasn't easy to see, but seeing their current numbers, and what several levels had done for them, it was clear to see that they had deficiencies in the two bars.

Roimontagne lowered the pillar as Weiss and Nora helped Ren along, "Greetings, ground people." I chuckled, creating a staircase for them, "Come on up. The view of the city is great."

I brought us up high, preparing a platform of telekinetic force, and when we were all gathered, I cast invisibility on all of us, secured Garnet in Yang's hands, and brought us back into normal space.

In an instant, the light from the city below met our eyes, and the others let out sounds of awe. I had to admit, it was rather beautiful. Garnet meowed happily, her kitten mind captivated by all the shiny lights. Yang adored her, and I adored both of them.

"It's so prettyyyyYYYYY~!" Nora squealed, sparkly-eyed. Ren smiled lightly, happy that Nora was happy.

Ruby pointed, "Look, that fountain is lighting up like a rainbow." sure enough, a myriad of colors had illuminated a fountain a couple miles from us.

I smiled, "With the Mistral Region Tournament coming up, I think it's an equality celebration. The rainbow represents that people of all types can come together and be united as Mistralians. It's beautifully symbolic." I began moving us over, "No harm in joining them. Free food and fun to be had." I used my various healing spells to restore everyone's HP, AP, and SP, "So let's have fun."

I carried us over, sending the message that we would be disguising Weiss so she could safely attend a small equality celebration. With five pairs of eyes on her, and my position, it was passed through safely.

We ate some, danced to the music, and overall had a really good time.

---

(Several hours of time-dilated training later, Jaune POV)

Increasing VIT past 100 has risen you to new heights!

By raising VIT above 100, you have earned the skill "Supreme Condition"!

By raising VIT above 100, you have earned the skill "Heroic Vigor"!

By raising VIT above 100, you have earned the skill "Second Chance"!

Raising your VIT to incredible levels has unlocked the class "Tank v3"!

I hummed softly, looking over the new class. I'd previously received a large bonus that granted new attributes to all my class advancements. Simply put, not only did I have the increase in the base boosts of Tank v1, which was physical resistance, HPR, and SPR, but Tank v2 had added a stance I could use, 'Planted', to boost my defense by +10%, and now Tank v3 increased that to +25% and added knockback resistance to it, while also adding a passive 'Juggernaut Stride', which gave +50% knockback resistance when standing and +25% when moving 'within normal speeds'.

Given that base running speed was just 80% of base DEX, that meant that I'd have that bonus until I reached... let's see, DEX just got to 92 a few minutes ago... a bit under 74 miles per hour.

I'm fairly certain I could win in a collision fight between myself and speeding car, given this on top of my other bonuses.

Irritated by having 101 VIT, I sunk four points into it. My Max HP and SP had risen by a considerable amount, thanks to Supreme condition providing the boosts based on base STR and base DEX respectively. Heroic Vigor also provided a 30% passive boost to effective VIT, which was much appreciated.

-/\-

Jaune Arc
Title: Champion Boxer
Level: 73
Class: Magic Knight v2 / Tank v2 -} Tank v3
Nickname: Knightlight

HP: 46,300 -} 60,000
AP: 190,600 -} 192,000
SP: 68,600 -} 80,000

Strength: 96 (+325%) (+140%) (+85%) (+220%) (+175%) = 936
Dexterity: 92 (+325%) (+140%) (+85%) = 598
Vitality: 105 (+325%) (+140%) (+85%) (+220%) (+30%) (+100%) = 1050
Intelligence: 170 (+5) (+325%) (+100%) = 892.5
Wisdom: 200 (+5) (+325%) (+100%) = 1050
Luck: 116
Charisma: 87 -} 90

Stat Points: 89 -} 85

-/\-

I grinned brightly, then looked at Crocea Mors across from me. I'd clashed with and grown to better understand Xiburichu, his maniacal sadism, and his fire, now it was time to extend my prowess into conquering the prideful and challenge-seeking attitude of Crocea's metal.

"To think it was just a month ago that we clashed in the forest and Qrow nearly found you." I said with nostalgia. Those were... moderately simpler times.

"True, yet though we've grown, we're still the same. Your build has not changed, even with additional power, and I remain as metal." he leaped high into the air, and I noticed something odd.

He was wielding Argenta Percutio.

Crashing down on me, I took the spear through the chest, tanking the blow as I snatched the weapon back into my inventory, punching Crocea hard enough to dent his face a little over seven inches inwards. Given that his skin was harder than titanium, it was quite a feat.

He reeled from the blow, and it was clear that he substituted the swiftness and agility of DEX for the powerful motion of STR in order to move around great distances. A great compensation, one he'd learned after some practice, and one that helped him when he lunged at me fist-first, punching me in the chest and getting a kick to the stomach in return.

"You're very strong, Jaune, tough as well." he clenched his fists, and a corona of purple light glowed around him as they shifted into large metal balls, like mace heads, "But I am purified toughness. I am not weighed down by your same limits. I endure no matter what, and even through the powers of Change and Growth, I am still Metal, I am still Crocea Mors!" he lunged at me again, punching me several times with his cannonball fists, spitting Mana Shotgun at me from his mouth.

I returned his blows, focusing purely on speed as I punched him again and again, using Combo-Count Attacks, which had been leveling up rather slowly, leading me to believe I needed more DEX to utilize it fully. Still, it was leveling up at a decent rate, about one or two levels per hour, already in the eighties.

I drew back, looking at him, "You are, Crocea, now let me see that sword!" I challenged, determined to link myself further with the truth of Crocea. I switched my classes out for Luck-based ones, smiling confidently.

He flexed his arm and his spiritual copy of Crocea Mors jutted from his body, slipping easily into his hand, and he went in for what I recognized was a Charging Strike, and I stood my ground.

Like a true hero-

*SHUNK*

*SPLASH*

*VWOOSH*

You refuse to drift into the abyss, you have been granted a Second Chance!

-I would not fall.

It was a strange sensation, skirting the edge of death, my Aura lashed out violently, blowing half of Crocea Mors' body to pieces and sending the other half flying. It wasn't truly that powerful of a pulse, but since he was my elemental, he was more affected by it than I'm sure any other being would be.

LUCKY! Lucky Spark has increased an EXP gain to 400% normal!

"Second Chance" level increased by 4!

"Lucky Spark" level has increased by 1!

I grinned, bringing Mystral, Pluviteus, and Roimontagne together in my soul as blood poured from my chest, and suddenly flowed up against gravity, forming a sword in midair, "Thank you, Alkahest." the mental image of her physical form nodded in acknowledgement.

I lunged forward, letting out a roaring warcry as I raced towards the reforming Crocea. The sword held in my hand, my own solidified blood, prevented from disintegrating by Alkahest's influence, almost effortlessly stabbed through the Yellow Death-Knight's diamond-hard chest, dissolving his metallic flesh.

Gases, liquids, and solids, the three states of matter, able to mix and match through chemistry, and while not exactly answers, their mixed forms were solutions, hehehe. Blood itself was a solution, and the second-most easily grasped by Alkahest, the first being Tokyrus, but seeing as he needed Crocea Mors to be a part of him, it was out of the question.

I gave a small, quiet, but confident smile at Crocea, "You are metal, Crocea, and you truly are the same inside and outside, but now you're more than before. You will not be lessened by growth, nor will change alter your spirit, merely unlock it further. Though... there is one thing you miscalculated, friend." his flesh began being sucked into the sword, flowing down its form, "You are not weighed down by my same limits, but you have your own limits as well. Your strength is only a fraction of my own, as you are a part of me, and always will be, friend." I smiled wider at him, a friendlier smile, filled with invitation, "You truly are great, friend, that is without doubt... but I am your master, you are a part of myself, and I am a yet greater whole composed of my own self and held higher by all of you and your power... now I believe it is time to surrender to your master, and assist me. One day, I'll free all of you."

He smiled regretfully, nodding sadly as he let himself be defeated by this challenge. His metals were sucked into the sword like a vacuum, and they flowed down and covered my own body, collecting and solidifying into plates of armor.

"Summon Elemental v2" level increased by 3!

By raising "Shining Armor" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Spiritual Armor"!

"Druidic Proficiency" level increased by 2!

The plates of armor shined purple, and I smiled, "Thank you, friend. We all grow stronger together." I clasped my fist over my chest, feeling his power pulsating in my core.

I looked at the sky, noting that it was only about one in the morning in normal space. I had to be back by six-thirty, which gave me five and a half hours, times about (what my experimentation had proven) 3.5 if I pushed my APR to the limits, so... over nineteen hours of meditation.

So I did exactly that, well, I'd go over a little, to get that last hundred even, but it wouldn't matter much really.

---

(After 20 hours of meditation, the afternoon of the next day, before the concert, Jaune POV)

I cracked my neck, sighing as I slipped into I.D. and charged towards the White Fang HQ.

It was probably proof of what underestimation and ignorance could do that they stole an entire factory complex without anyone truly realizing it. It was written off as some anonymous cleanup job and the space was converted into other things.

It was probably proof of what deceit could do that I was able to walk right through the front door. I grimaced at how dirty the place was, and already I began spreading my aura through the area, aligning it to the elements and cleaning the floor as I walked past, "Ugh, the only 'filthy faunus' here is the one failing to clean this fucking place up." I said to nobody in particular, "Who's the janitor?"

One person spoke up, calling out to me, and I gestured for him to come over, "You're Jaune, Adam's ally and our human ambassador, sir?" he saluted me.

"The very same. Here, let me introduce you to something." I pulled a mop bucket from my inventory, using illusions to disguise it as a conjuring, "This is a mop bucket. Use it. Clean the fucking floor, I'm surprised there aren't diseases running rampant in this place."

He grimaced, "Ah, you see, our medical bay IS full..." he looked down, "It's not like we were expecting you so soon."

"I'll only be here for a minute. I'm not trying to sound like a stuck-up jackass, I only mention this because I'm concerned about you all. You can't fight when you're too cold, sick, and hungry to even get out of this place. I'll help a little." I brought out a second mop, using the additional ability I'd gotten when the skill hit level 50 to substitute the water with my AP, eliminating the dirt and grime on the floor more and more with every glowing swipe of my mop, then I used telekinesis to bring out more mops, using them to utterly demolish the level of grime covering the place, with cloths wiping away dust and polishing the machinery. I came to a boarded-up hole in the wall, next to a messy patch that was empty of machinery.

The whole thing looked very odd, and I flagged down someone working on a piece of pipe nearby, "What happened there?" I pointed to the anomaly, letting Schwarza control the many mops and cloths now cleaning this place up.

"Ah, a few weird bitches busted in and tore up some machinery, hauled it out of here while blocking gunfire. Weird as hell, I don't really know why they wanted it." he said, "Boss said not to worry and to keep an eye out for them."

I grimaced, "What'd the take?"

"Well... this is a strip of machines that make and clean the steel, I think it was a boiler?" he shrugged, "I don't know how to make steel, I just know the fucking thing bubbled when we had it turned on and were working with it.

"A steel boiler?" I raised an eyebrow, amused.

"No like... water boiled at the bottom or some shit and the gas came up and carried stuff to the top."

I let out an 'ah', "That's the vapor cleanser. It draws out the nasty impurities that weaken the steel and carry them to the top, where they get scraped off. Very useful."

He shrugged, "I guess. None of this shit really works, we've been trying to get it up and running for a couple of months now."

I sighed, then 'conjured' up bricks with an altered Skoporis, who usually controlled obsidian, but my levels in Mana Sketch allowed me to redraw his pieces so he controlled ceramics. The nails and boards were pulled away, and I noticed the windows up high were now quite clean, "The wall's fixed, and I'll see about conjuring up a machine like that. We could get some marketing going in secret, pull in a bit of income." I smiled.

He smiled back, "You're really something, dude. For now, I'm gonna just get this pipe fitted, you go do what you were doing."

I nodded, "Alrighty, you keep up the good work.

By raising "Mopping" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Field Wiper"!

You have unlocked the skill group "Adventure-work"!

I raised an eyebrow, then looked through my skills. The tab was right where Housework would be, which confirmed that these 'arbitrary' skills did indeed prestige into something amazing.

By raising "Polishing" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Buff Proficiency"!

Alright, it looked like the two groups would be 'Battle Support' and 'Party Support', seemed pretty reasonable to me.

I slowly continued towards the rear of the building, smiling as I cleaned the whole place from top to bottom, making my way to speak with Sierra.

By raising "Sweeping" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Squadron Breaker"!

Niiiiice. I stepped into the office, smiling at the frustrated looking woman looking over a dirty, worn map, "Fucking... fuck... what is it?" she looked up, only to stop, "Ah, you're Jaune, right? Adam's human friend." she narrowed her eyes at me, her feathers ruffling a little.

I smiled, "The very same. Jaune Arc, hello again~." I held out a hand, delivering the standard Mistralian greeting as I hit her with Gamer's Sight.

Sierra Elise
Title: Honoring fallen Temples with Blades
Level: 74

She shook my hand and cleared her throat, "Well, hello for the first time. I'm the leader of this establishment, we're working on how to get some of this stuff up and running."

I nodded, "I was informed on the way in here, and was notified that a vapor cleanser was stolen for... unknown reasons." I shrugged, "Any idea on that?"

She sighed, "No, just shouts of a boss demanding something big and out of the way. I mean, we can't exactly report it stolen, after all." she pinched the bridge of her nose, "It's all so confusing... what brings your here."

"I'm just here to see the base, we're in Rome at the moment and I felt it courteous to visit before we left." I internally cringed, apologizing to the entire Arc family, "Though, I guess this incident is really weird and curious. Who would want a vapor cleanser?"

"I dunno, they wanna clean their robots?" she shrugged, "No clue, not even really my problem, couldn't get the damn thing working, got some people who used to work in this place thankfully, so it could have become useful." she sighed, letting her shoulders sag, "I just hope nothing else gets stolen."

I gave her a sympathetic look, "I hope so as well. Anything else happen recently?"

She grunted, "Nothing really. A couple of small raids, twenty-ish percent less complaints about how shitty the food is, so I guess the cooks grew some brains... probably was good to assign permanent cooks, I guess."

I shook my head, "How are you even managing this whole operation?"

She hiccuped, and I realized that she was intoxicated. She reached under her desk, pulling up a dart, and throwing it at a board on the wall. On it, I saw a grid of dozens of names and pictures of faces, along with several similar boards stacked up on the floor. A quick count said that she had seven boards of 140 people, enough to keep track of about 980 people, "Oops, looks like Jeremy is on..." she squinted and stood up, walking over and pulling the dart off the board, looking at it, "Toilet duty... yep." she stuck it back in the board, then turned to me, "So... Jaune... how long before that concert of yours?"

I cleared my throat, "About five hours, why do you ask?"

She hummed, seeming to mull it over in her head, then turned around, fiddling with something... and then turned to me with her shirt open, revealing a lacy beige bra, "Wanna bang?"

I cleared my throat, containing my flash of disgust. Not at her body, she was admittedly attractive, though her figure had taken a toll from the stress of her job and probably more than a few skipped meals, putting her on the border between 'slender' and 'gaunt'.

If my girlfriend wasn't proof enough, then let me say outright that I preferred my women with meat on their bones.

"No thank you."

She let out a small sound, "Really? I'm clean~... not just healthy, but I also bathed this morning."

"Three reasons. 1) You're drunk, I don't want to take advantage of a woman like that, 2) I'm not in the mood for it, nor do I plan to be, or have any protection, and 3) I have a happy girlfriend and I do not plan on ever cheating on her."

She pouted, closing her shirt, "You look like you could use two girlfriends, hell, I'm pretty sure a guy like you would be able to run an all-female orgy in Paris, or abuse the laws in Pillarwash Bay. I've heard that they allow public sex, or at least that you can't be reported for it if you aren't blocking com... com-meh... com-mer-cial functionality."

"I don't need to know about some town-sized whorehouse, thank you very much. I just came here to get a little acquainted, not to put anything in anywhere or get geography lessons. If this is all that's on your mind, then I'll be taking my leave now. I could be advancing my conjuration skills to perhaps be able to create a new vapor cleanser."

She pouted again, then sighed, "I suppose... well, hopefully you're able to come back when I'm sober, Mister Arc." she went over to her desk and slumped down in her chair, huffing slightly.

I sighed, then walked out of the office, determined to help these people if their leader was too drunk to fully function. I jogged past a few people milling about and focused a little harder, getting an idea.

Getting a deeper clean, I internally combined Crocea Mors, Mystral, and Roimontagne, getting Blancoro, an elemental of 'physical cleaning'. It was a little hard to fit the pieces, but his physical form was sort of animated, skin of shining, extremely clean silvery steel, covered in rust in some places, with rings of sand gliding up and down his limbs, wiping away the rust as it passed. Of course, thankfully, he could do more than sandblast/grind metal down to a shiny bare surface, he could clean things with great efficiency.

I found myself in a makeshift laundry room after a little while, piles of dirty uniforms in large rolling hamper cart thingies, and sighed. Switching Mystral and Roimontagne out for Pluviteus and Juristimunja, creating Saniset, my 'chemical cleaning' elemental. Just a bit of suspended 'cleaning water' forming a floating wall, a wave of heat from Xibustral, and chains of telekinetic force, I had an invisible factory line of uniforms and other clothes getting cleaned by my laundry skills.

I was able to completely replace any machines with 'appropriate magical energy', and I was fairly sure that an elemental that literally had power over 'chemical cleaning' was probably the most appropriate magical energy there was.

Listening to a song on my scroll as I cleaned well over a thousand uniforms, I let the EXP roll in.

By raising "Laundry" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Armor Enhancement Proficiency"!

I hummed, looking at the skill. It allowed me to more easily and effectively repair and enchant armor... too bad I didn't exactly have any real armor enchantment skills. I had stuff that could technically do it by proxy, but that didn't count. That was actually pretty much exactly like saying that Roimontagne was a sand elemental because he could theoretically lift and control sand.

Yes, but only by proxy, in reality it was both physically and magically 'too small and slipped through his fingers', so Mystral was necessary since she could hold it together.

Wait...

Holy fucking shit!

I think I just reminded myself about the possible insight into how my dual elementals operated.

As I'd said, Roimontagne's fingers were too large, and sand was too small, and it simply slipped through his grasp. Mystral's all-encompassing winds were able to hold it up for him so he could manipulate it.

On another combination, mud or clay, a similar situation occurred, Roimontagne cannot manipulate pure clay properly, it simply did not move like how he wanted it to, too flexible and nonrigid. Pluvi could manipulate the motions of the clay, and Roi could force the shape so that it had form and, as was his MO, strength.

Roimontagne could also not lift ore with the proper effectiveness needed for the kind of action we required. Not only did Crocea help lift the metal parts of it effectively, but with Roi lifting and controlling the stone portions, the two could efficiently manipulate the craggy and uneven composition of ore and create strong, durable formations out of it. However, a drawback was that their combined presence was too 'heavy' to create shapes more complex than simple melee weapons. While advancing from Basic to Lesser Elementals allowed them to clean up their designs a lot, it was still rough and simple. I suddenly had the amusing thought of their golem-like shape suddenly whipping out a flintlock rifle or powder cannon and blasting their foes' surprised faces off.

An amusing thought indeed.

The line grew fuzzy when it came to Roi and Xibu controlling lava, but I believed that Xibu's willpower gave a surface-grabbing blanket to support Roi's strength, allowing him to pick up the molten liquid and move it around, with the enhanced will, almost like brute-forcing it to work, rather than using precision like with water.

As for Roi and Jurist, the line grew a little fuzzier in some places, and a little clearer in others. Crystals, and sometimes plastic, but the latter was weird and didn't really count. I supposed that the change and refining of normal stone into crystals was something Roi wasn't able to do, though this time it wasn't that he was too big, but rather that his powers didn't allow such a change with any sort of ease. Jurist, however, was able to force the change with ease, so combining the two allowed the control of crystals. Plastic was a little different, but I think it had to do with the composition of plastic and a different application of Lightning to Earth.

This brief bout of thoughtfulness not only earned me a couple more levels in Magic Doodle, but also took me to the moment when I'd finished with all the laundry.

I also noticed a din of chatter, and turned the see many people staring at me and whispering among themselves. I picked out comments on how strange I was, and how cool I was, and one young woman said I was handsome.

I smiled at everyone, "This stuff is all freshly cleaned and warm, you should probably get into it, I'll make another round an clean up the new dirty stuff." I said as I teleported to where I sensed the kitchen was, reaching out with the glow of my aura and smelling the air with the senses granted by Biospiritual Integration.

I sighed, looking at the place. Schwarza brought the mops back into my inventory, and I brought them out and started cleaning everything, "This place is fucking filthy! You're lucky I'm here right now, or you'd end up making more mistakes. I'm here to help." I sighed, the floors becoming spotless within a couple of minutes, and then I went to the ovens, grimacing and fixing them up, first removing the trays of food that were about to be cooked, then spreading my aura throughout the building, upgrading the circuits and breakers, then upgrading the machines to catch up, just making everything better.

When I was done, the room was twice as bright, the ovens twice as good, the whole place was spotless from top to bottom, and now the food would be cooked much better, "I suggest adjusting to having faster ovens, You're welcome, friends." I gave a bow before teleporting away.

I found myself staring at the generators and capacitors, examining the internal structures, and reinforcing them while adjusting them to be better, grounding the machinery better, and sighing as I did so, "This place... like concretic dirt, almost. They're lucky I was able to come here and polish it all up... literally." I chuckled as I said the word in a funny voice, a half-grin-half-smirk on my lips, and I turned and looked at the whole building.

So drab and dull, like everyone there. I'd seen a thousand, literally a thousand names, titles, and levels, and not a single person above level 30 except a few captains, in fact over half of them were in the low teens, another forty-five percent were in the high teens, and barely five dozen people were above 20, and only because they were lucky and hadn't died on missions.

I suddenly realized something was off, and I think it had to do with how everyone was here.

Everyone.

Meaning nobody was out on a mission.

I flagged down a captain and questioned him on it, "Don't you know? By Adam's orders, passed to the general, all missions are suspended while you and the Schnee whore-" I nearly punched him for calling her that, "-are touring through Mistral."

I nodded, my face a mask of calmness, "I see. Thank you for that, then. Use the time to train, everyone looks so scrawny and weak and just... like you plucked them right off the streets and stuck them in a uniform, most of which are too big for the people wearing them." I idly crossed my arms, which were dense, beefy, and filled my shirt well.

The man sighed, "We have little training equipment."

I looked at him like he was stupid, then calmed when I realized he probably was, and looked around the room, then sighed, "Literally just jog and run, do aerobics, lift shit, just fucking exercise. Figure out a way for the men and women here to train up their strength, agility, dexterity, and endurance, and the White Fang as a whole will benefit. Right now, you're sort of the weakest link." I frowned at him, in a way that told him that I was sorry for having to tell him that conclusion.

He sighed, "I suppose. Alright then, I'll talk to the others and see what we can come up with. Thank you, I guess." he looked at me warily.

I smiled at him, "I have no intention of harming the White Fang or any of its people." truthfully, if things came down to it, I'd just kill them all. Gaster Blaster should be more than enough to do the trick.

He smiled, "Thank you, really. You've allowed us to relax a little, and think. Sierra... she's strong, but keeping track of everyone ends up with her running in circles like a headless horse."

I cringed slightly, "Not a pretty image. I'm going to head back before they question where I ran off to, okay?"

He nodded, "Yes. Please, continue doing your job, and fucking the Schnee over."

My illusory face gave a smile, "Like a two-lien whore on a coffee table." I said, and chuckled while internally being disgusted with myself.

He grinned and I walked away, notified of another level in Roleplaying.

I conjured up the illusion of a flash of light and slipped into I.D.

I let my emotions show by grinding the entire fucking complex into the ground, growling in rage as Roimontagne and I destroyed everything.

So stressful, so shitty, so... just BAD. I hated all of what was going on there. They'd literally drawn in hundreds of people based solely on 'Hey, life is shit, right? Fight for a better life!', which put so lightly the issues of the White Fang being a fucking terrorist organization. Sure, they were green recruits still wet behind all their ears, but that didn't change that they'd be twisted into doing some crazy terrible shit if I didn't intervene.

The argument was so weak, that these people had to be ridiculously desperate, and what did it say of their society when they were desperate enough to be swayed over in just ten fucking words!

Mistral might have been a massively spanning kingdom of culture, but I could see that that culture had bred a LOT of bacteria.

Just... fucking hell.

I wanted to be out of this region ASAP.

---

(that night, near the end of training, Jaune POV)

I sighed, rubbing my face with both hands.

Things were... well. They were well. I just felt tired, was all. Yang was asleep at my side, Ruby lounging on my other side, Weiss resting with her back against my own, and I was just watching Ren and Nora sparring against Roimontagne, the two struggling slightly against his diamond-hard stone body. Ironic to my previous estimations, he actually had a lot more DEX than he did before, and a major part of that was probably the fact that he had legs and not an amorphous, sludge-like rocky mass connecting him to the ground.

I spoke up, breaking the precious silence that had reigned over the four of us, "Why do you three keep doing this?" I asked softly so as to not disturb Yang.

Ruby shrugged lightly, "You're comfy to lean on, despite being an iron wall."

Weiss snuggled slightly into me, "And you're very warm, but comfortably so. It feels very nice after training.

I nodded, "I see... well, regardless of that, I'm thinking of seeking out new Grimm to fight, gotta get new targets, AND levels." I sighed softly, humming as I thought over how best to go about it.

I should probably start here, actually. Once the others go to sleep, I'll do a bit of traveling, searching out for Grimm.

Cracking my neck, I called for the spar to end, dismissing Roimontagne and helping Ren and Nora up onto the tower, "Ren, I'm going to start adding more electrolytes to your diet, you shouldn't be having such little stamina."

Nora sighed, "Renny, you really do. I'm worried." she pouted at him, which made him sigh.

"I'll try, at least." he gave up before even making an attempt to resist, "So, rest?"

"You all rest now. I'm going to go find new Grimm to slay." I looked north, "I think the local tales tell of a fortress somewhere to the north, can't hurt to check it out." I brought us back into normal space, floating on telekinesis, then teleported us back to the suite, "I'll check it out, probably kill some new types of Grimm, see what's up with everything."

Ruby sighed, "I wish I wasn't as tired as I was, or I'd come with you." she yawned, "Welp, goodnight, then." she walked to her and Yang's room, closing the door softly behind her.

Nora and Ren gave me tired smiles, "It was great tonight, Jaune. Tomorrow, though, I'm totally gonna beat Roi-roi!" she pumped her fist, then yawned.

Ren just lifted his head, clearly already drifting off, and Nora helped him to their room.

Weiss looked up at me, "I don't know if I say this enough, but... thank you, Jaune. You've been an excellent help." she smiled sweetly, sparing a glance at Yang, who I held to my chest like one might do with a baby, and sighed, "However, I don't like how you let her get off the hook with only doing half the training time and then just napping for the rest of the time."

I sighed, knowing someone would bring that up sooner or later, "I'm not going easy on her, Weiss. I've been having her slowly filter points into her INT and WIS while training with her personally. She gets tuckered out from the spars and I let her rest and recover so she can adjust to the new INT and WIS. Even with all my healing, y'all need time to adjust with INT and WIS. You're all lucky I'm able to heal so well, or the sudden expansion in mental power could cause damage. The soul is strong, though, and Soulforge helps smooth over the bumps enough, it's... complicated, but just know that she's working as hard as all of you, just in different ways." I looked at Yang, bringing up her information.

Hard work indeed.

-/\-

Name: Yang Xiao Long
Title: Hotter than the Sun in the middle of July
Level: 62
Class: Fiery Martial Artist
Nickname: Sun Angel

Hit Points: 27,000 -} 31,000
Aura Points: 16,500 -} 19,900
Stamina Points: 37,000 -} 44,000

Strength: 84 -} 90 (+330%) = 387
Dexterity: 60 -} 76 (+50%) = 114
Vitality: 82 -} 90 (+125%) = 202.5
Intelligence: 52 -} 56 -} 70 (+50%) = 105
Wisdom: 50 -} 54 -} 70 (+50%) = 105
Luck: 32
Charisma: 84

Stat Points: 60 -} 46 -} 30

-/\-

I sighed as I recognized that her Aura was being finicky as well. I internally groaned with the resonance of a grand bell when I realized that I had to rethink my theory on why Ruby's aura was, at least from what had been observed, actively opposing the progression towards Aurora. New information changed the situation and made me have to alter my perception of the problem.

I looked at Weiss again, "I don't want any of you getting hurt, Yang especially."

She nodded, accepting that, "Well, I suppose it all makes sense, then. I should be getting to my room, busy day tomorrow." she waved as she walked away, "Goodnight, Jaune."

I waved back, "Goodnight, Weiss." I looked down at Yang's sleeping face, giving her a kiss on the forehead as I took her to her room. Ruby was already in the shower, so I was clear to enter.

I set her on her bed, smiling softly at her, gently prying her arms and legs off of me, brushing her hair out of her face. I planted a soft kiss on her lips, smiling at her, whispering sweet nothings to her as I caressed her cheek.

She was so beautiful, and cute, and just... perfect, "I love you, Yang. I'm going to go fight some Grimm, okay?" I smiled down at her, giving her one last kiss on the cheek.

She shifted slightly, but settled, and I stood up straight, turning to walk away, but I was stopped by a hand gripping the tail of my hoodie, and froze in place, "J-jaune~?" Yang asked somewhat groggily.

I internally cringed, realizing I probably stirred her too much, "Yang, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you u-"

"A-are you going to fight Grimm?" her question was innocent, but her words were uncharacteristically meek and timid.

They cut through my mood like a burning hot knife, "Yes... is something wrong?"

She took in a great, slow gasp of air, like a turtle reaching a crucial realization, and after several tense seconds, she spoke up, "I want to come with you." her words were distinctly sober of their previous sleepiness or weakness, though now she sounded like she was afraid of letting me go off alone.

I turned around and looked down at her, "Yang... are you worried I'll get hurt?"

She sat up, looking up at me, her beautiful purple eyes boring into my cyans, "Yes. Of course I am. I'm your girlfriend, and I know that worrying about me is kinda your thing..." she sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, planting her still-booted feet on the floor, "... but... that doesn't mean that I don't worry about you as well. I know you can do a lot, you can do a ton of stuffs, in fact I'm pretty sure you can probably do anything if you just work at it a bunch, but... that doesn't mean I don't worry. I don't... I don't want you to go off and... and..." a sniffle broke her words.

I looked at her, and then it clicked, "Oh... oh Yang..." I braced myself as she surged up and hugged me tightly, so tightly I almost thought for a second that she was intentionally trying to crush the life out of my ribs, but my VIT prevented that, "Ssshhhhh... it's not like that. You know I'll be safe."

"I really, REALLY don't... I'm strong enough to fight, I want to go with you, and help you. Besides, I can't let Ruby keep leveling ahead of me, can I?" she smirked at me, crossing her arms under her breasts, all previous signs of tiredness burned away, "Come on, it'll be like a date."

I let out a small scoff of a laugh, "A murder-date?" giving a joking grin at her.

She grinned back, "A hunter date. I dunno, but I just imagine this is what hunter couples do, make dates out of training trips. Sounds like it, anyways."

I shrugged, "I guess. Honestly I'd like to take you on a midnight boat ride through the rivers of Venice, but I guess I can go be a badass with you... though, I would probably say you're a goodass." I couldn't help it, and pulled her into a hug while grabbing a handful of her ass, holding the soft flesh under my fingers, squeezing and feeling the strong muscle underneath, firm but just a bit squishy, fucking perfect.

She let out a soft, pleased sigh, "Geez, you know, I'd assume you'd be more about the front than the back, babe."

I broke the hug, holding her hands as we teleported to the top of the hotel, "Sun Angel, a little grope here or there is fine, but I'm sure I'd get in trouble if I was just staring at those perfect breasts of yours all day like I'd probably be fine doing." I flashed a confident grin at her.

She fixed me with a teasing look, "Probably? What, don't tell me you'd get bored."

Internally, I shrugged off my cares for a moment, and my lips ghosted across hers in a feather-light kiss, "No, rather the opposite, I'd get excited, and want to do much more than look at them. It doesn't help that you've pretty much said it's okay. What man can resist the marvel of putting his hands on a pair of beautiful suns?"

I grinned as her face flushed bright red, having won this teasing battle, "I-i-i-i-i... sh-shouldn't we go find those Grimm to kill?"

I nodded, smiling as I kissed her on the forehead, "Yep, we should. I have an idea on where to start, too. Come on." I used a series of teleports and got us outside of the kingdom walls, going into I.D. and carrying her on my back as I made my way north by northeast.

Yang let out a cheer from the exhilaration of the massive levels of speed I was capable of. I supposed it WAS really incredible, seeing as how I was carrying fifty tons of condensed steel at nearly sonic speeds.

I noticed that my STR increased again, and hummed as I contemplated that.

The scale of the stats was a little weird, but my estimates were that at around 65, your limit becomes one ton lifted in your arms. I currently had 97 STR and was on the fast track to reaching over 100, but my limits? Well, I was weighed down considerably by 50 tons of weight, so if my scale worked linearly, then from 65 up to 97, a mere thirty-two points, each point increased my technical limit by about 1.5 tons, which definitely wasn't the proper scale. I did have to consider my weight lifted by my arms, which no doubt was probably a lot, but less than fifty tons. It was all a little confusing.

At least my stat skills had been leveling up fairly quickly, Jaune W: Hey Sunny... you know how I have those stat skills? :W

She paused in her cheering to nod, Yang W: Yeah, I do. Why do you ask? :W

Jaune W: Well, my STR skill is Incredible Strength... and its level is in the 90s now, wouldn't it be hilarious if the prestige was like... Hulk Strength? :W

Yang W: Pfffffffffffffft~! Jaune SMASH! :W

We shared a laugh as I brought us back into normal space, and we were fairly close to a strip of mountains. I ran about thirty feet out from it, slowly getting faster as another point came in for DEX, and still slowly pouring more mass into my armor.

I was thankful that I'd included headgear, when I suddenly caught a boulder with my face, shattering it into a million pieces. I saw several more boulders land randomly in front of us, some not on my path, some on it, and broke through all of them as I bled off momentum, looking up into the mountains.

There, I saw unnatural formations of stone, clearly manmade, as nature didn't make stone bricks. I saw many shapes of black and white up there, and let the glow of my Aurora shine forth, illuminating them as I took in their information.

Paganero Vanguard
Title: Vile Knight protecting a Damned Kingdom
Level: 90

I realized where the boulders came from when the disturbingly human-shaped Grimm grabbed more from behind the edge of the ridge and prepared to throw them at me.

"I think we found a dungeon, babe." Roimontagne's power took the boulders and flung them back up at the vanguards, breaking up their line as I focused energy into my legs and Power Jumped up, with Featherfall, Telekinesis, and Mystral's influence helping me gain altitude. Once we were above the crest of the ridge, I summoned a group of Gaster Blasters and broke their line up even more, killing a couple less hefty ones that I focused my fire on.

We landed and broke apart, standing back to back. Yang got into her usual loose, ready combat stance, while I held Candidus Murus before me and Crocea Mors in my hand, glaring at the knight-like Grimm.

Their armor was a mix of white and bony, and pale gray and steel-like, as if they had been wearing platemail and it had melded onto their skin. They all drew weapons, mostly large swords, but a few had spears, all modified with wicked shapes and Grimm essence.

"I think... I think I know what happened here, but I'm not totally sure yet. Keep on your guard, they have high INT for Grimm, as well as pretty high STR and VIT... and have skills in wielding weapons, so be careful." I warned her as I laid on the buffs, waiting for the enemy to move.

Suddenly, two spear-wielders charged, one from either side, and we dove into action.

I charged forward, slapping one spear away with my sword, the other skidding past my shield and away from me, and a swift combo attack cut the two down, though with considerable effort. They have massive amounts of defense.

I stabbed the next spearman that charged, intent on running me through, and was surprised when a stream of black fluid spurted from his chest. I bit back a sound of surprise as I observed it.

Blightblood Tonic

"Yang! Keep your fire up! These bastards bleed... grimm zombie juice is the best way to put it!"

She let out a shriek, and I turned to see she'd already used her hidden blade to stab one of them through the chest, but her flaming Aura was already burning the vile liquid away, and she didn't get any status effects, so I was relieved.

And then I was run through with a spear. It jutted out through my neck, but I grabbed it and broke it in half, pulling it out of my body and turning to the offending bastard who did it, now unarmed. I roared in anger and cut him in half with several swift, consecutive chops, driving my sword through its helmeted face.

Grimacing, I activated Mana Shield just to prevent that from happening again, slowly cutting my way through the crowd, while Yang punched her way through.

Your level increased by two!

Yang's level increased by three!

I grunted as Yang and I synchronized our movements and threw the last of our enemies towards each other, watching the knights slow themselves slightly before crashing into each other, collapsing. They barely managed to get themselves to their feet before we met them, Yang with her fists and me with Argenta Percutio in hammer form, smashing them into the ground and cracking their armored skulls open. I paused with mine as Yang finished hers off.

I knelt down after dismembering the beast, holding up a hand for Yang to stop for the moment. The one I'd ended up with was one with a gray helmet, which I used Crocea to peel away, revealing a gaunt, grayish-black, sunken-in human face, like instead of rotting, it had been mummified. Its eyes were the burning red of a grimm, its white teeth gleaming in the moonlight as it groaned and tried to bite me.

I raised my hammer up and brought it down, smashing the thing's head into a thousand pieces, "You know my scarf? I got it from a Crypt Keeper Blightus, and that thing had poison that could turn a human into a Grimm. I think one of those got in here and turned this whole place into Grimm zombies..."

"Grimmbies..." Yang said softly, looking at the dissolving corpse with pity, "At least we ended their suffering?"

I nodded, smiling faintly, "Yes, we did. Come on, these were just the vanguards, we're lucky there weren't archers." I looked up onto the wall grabbed Yang around the waist and bringing her up onto it with another Power Jump.

Behind the warped crenelations, which were nearly chest-high, I saw two towers, one to either side, and small clusters of more Paganeros, though these labeled Paganero Cityguard, and having levels averaging in the high eighties, the lowest I could see being eighty-five. I gestured to our right, "Let's check the towers first. I don't think any of these things heard beyond the wall, so right now we have the element of surprise." I led the way, shield in front of my body as we made our way to the tower.

We descended rickety, decrepit stairs, the cold, dry air probably the only reason they hadn't decayed into nothing. Rods of stone came out underneath them and reinforced them, and the second I sensed danger and bloodlust, I pulled Yang to far side, away from the center of the room.

Paganero Archer
Title: Spraying forth the Corrupting Power
Level: 84

Their bows were part of their arms, and they fired large, bony arrows at me, which deflected off my shield, finding no purchase.

I aimed the tip of Crocea Mors at them and fired off a Flareball, setting the place on fire, "We don't have much chance for staying secretive, baby girl, so let's just get our guns blazing!"

Yang nodded, grinning as she leaped over my body and crashed down to the flaming floor below, sending a shockwave through the floor that cracked, splintered, and shattered the burning wood, following it up by snapping several bows.

I jumped down and delivered a Power Stomp, sending a shockwave through the room that bounced off the walls. Together, Yang and I cleared the room in under a minute, and I snuffed the flames with Xiburichu, as I 'saw' outside the room.

Several armed Paganero Cityguards were right outside, to which I just laughed, "Sunny, get ready to follow me... GO!" I charged out of the room with Bulldoze active, the comet-like corona of aura burning bright around me as I knocked away two of the guards, knocked the one right in front of me back, hit him again, knocked him down, and trampled over him. I skid to a halt and summoned a couple of Gaster Blasters to soften a couple of them up, turning to another and slicing through its sword with my own, bashing it in the face with my shield, and cutting it in half with a followup.

Unfortunately, as Yang and I regrouped, we suddenly found ourselves launched into the air by a wave of force. I flipped in midair and examined what just did that, which was a Paganero Castle Crusher, a massive beast of a man holding what seemed to be the arm of a catapult, wielding it like a massive mace.

I grunted, and we touched down lightly right outside of the outer wall, "Well... at least they're diverse."

Yang groaned, "Okay, how're we gonna kill that thing?" she gestured to the wall, "It literally just threw us out of the dungeon thingy."

I tapped my chin, "Well... how about... Catherine Wheel?"

Her eyes turned red with a mix of rage and excitement, "Sounds like a fuckin' plan." she tapped her hip, then crouched slightly, "Come on, babe, let's get back in there!"

I nodded, "Alright... three... two... one... GO!" we launched up, splintering the ground under us as we sailed into the air.

The Castle Crusher saw us come in and made to swing his 'mace' again, only to find a Fireball flying at his face, surprisingly getting scooped out of the air as he swung, but left himself open to the dozen Flareballs that struck him, all exploding into lingering, burning flames.

Yang pulled out her new secret weapon. Her right hand flew to her left hip and she drew what appeared to just be a simple orangesteel dagger with a slightly longer-than-normal handle from its sheathe.

Then it mechashifted, the blade splitting in half as the hihirokane channeled her aura and projected a powerful streak of golden aura that formed into none other than Sunbeam Zweihander. She was spinning as well, turning into a wheel of flaming mannic metal death, decapitating the still-recovering Castle Crusher, right before I crashed into its chest and turned its core into powder.

Your level increased by two!

Yang's level increased by two!

We grinned viciously, Yang easily swinging around the ethereal zweihander even with such a small handle, since it didn't exactly have weight to it. I then noticed that it was wreathed in flames.

By raising her skill "Aura" to level 99, Yang has earned the skill "Aurora"!

Yang has received the skill "Flammable Mana"!

I quickly read the skill, and found it allowed her to add the element of Fire to most spells, and was slightly easier when they already had an element to them. Luckily, Sunbeam Zweihander was a metal-aligned spell.

I saw not only Paganero Cityguards approaching, but also more Archers, a couple more Castle Crushers, some normal Knights and Heavy-Knights, and even some Cavalry, riding on the backs of Cavaliscera Lugganuts, which I could tell were the third of the divergent evolutions of a Cavaliscera, these just having a lot more muscle and armor, as opposed to the wings of a Pegascorn or the horn of a Uniscus.

"So... the fallen Templars think they can take on the might of a Magical Knight and Fiery Berserker?" I grinned at them as they all stared, seeming to be wanting to wait for my move, "Well... alright, let's see who's stronger!" I charged forwards, slipping from bashing away a sword to kneecapping three of the corrupted warriors. A dozen Gaster Blasters came into being and scorched away thousands of HP from all in their range of attack, as well as killing the three I'd just downed, "Yang, hit the deck!" I summoned ten castings of Gaster Blasters and seared away at the hundreds of knights, thinning their ranks and softening them up, since their shtick was having ridiculously high defense.

I wasn't too worried at the moment, which is why I didn't go all-out. If I wanted to, I could easily summon fifty castings of Gaster Blasters and just destroy this entire fucking place, but that wasn't sportsmanlike.

Plus, I had a theory on what was holding back Sword Mastery's progress. There was a certain point where knowledge took you, but holding nothing but knowledge on the forms and execution thereof would take you so far. You had to experience the art, you had to truly understand the spirit of the art.

You had to embrace the spirit of the sword.

"Sword Mastery" level increased by 2!

I grinned, realizing what I had to do now. I focused on both the feeling of the sword in my hand, and Yang's bars, seeing them whittle down as we tore our way through the enemies, with EXP and Lien pouring in like a waterfall.

Eventually, after running around 'wiping the field' up of stragglers, Yang and I met again, auroras burning hot around us and smoke billowing off our clothes from the dissolving Grimm guts.

I chuckled and planted a kiss on her forehead, "Wonderful work, baby girl." we smiled at each other.

She shrugged one shoulder, making a so-so gesture, "Hey, it was pretty easy after you burnt up a bunch of their HP. Did you see all the loot we got?"

I nodded, "Yeah, notifications came up and everything." I looked at the latest update to the cluster of them.

You have gained 80,115,000 Lien!

You have gained the armor "Paganarma Grigio Chestplate"
You have gained the armor "Paganarma Bianca Greaves"

You have gained the weapon "Paganarma Ossa Longsword"
You have gained the weapon "Paganarma Acciaio Longsword"

You have obtained the grimm mask "Antepeit"
You have obtained the grimm mask "Betrathox"

You have earned the title "Army Killer"!
You have earned the title "Army Slayer"!
You have earned the title "Army Slaughterer"!

*BUG FIX* You have earned the title "Grimm Hunter"!

Your level increased by six!
Yang's level increased by eleven!

Those weren't the only items I'd gotten. We'd received well over a dozen copies of both the Grigio 'gray' and Bianca 'white' sets of armor, and the Ossa 'bone' and Acciaio 'steel' weapons. of course, to distinguish the two, the armors (also bone and steel) were named after color while the weapons were named after material.

I'd gotten so much Lien, even from just about a hundred and twenty enemies, thanks to having equipped my money-gaining titles. I sighed as I switched away from one of them, "Well, let's see about that keep, then." I pointed with Crocea the sword to the structure, "I think I have an idea on who the king is." I walked forward, staying in front of Yang with Candidus Murus out.

The second we were within thirty feet of the decrepit structure, lined with gargoyle-topped pillars, windows caked with dirt, and portcullis rusted over, the ground rumbled slightly, and the rusted gate exploded outwards, rusted bars of metal flying towards us, but deflected by Crocea Myst's influence, the two brought together in less than a second inside my soul, protecting us from harm.

I looked at the group that came out, six knights standing nine feet tall each, give or take a few inches, each clad in silvery-white armor that must have been at least an inch thick. There was little chance that it would comply with Crocea's cutting force.

Paganero Royalguard
Title: The Armor of the Vile King
Level: 93-95

I sighed and put Crocea away, my hand lighting up as I swiped it across the space in front of me, Wizard Fists assisting the power of Flowing Mana, willing Excalibur into existence.

I cracked my neck, looking at the massive knights... who then revealed their halberds... "Okay, nope, fuck that." I called up all of my casting power and summoned as many Gaster Blasters as I could.

Let's see... fifty thousand AP used, divided by two thousand... twenty five castings, times a maximum of seventeen.

A grid of forty-two by ten of the familiar dragon-like skulls came into existence, their glowing, judgement-filled eyes staring down the mutated guardsmen.

And then a deafening cacophony of burning plasma and magic tore through the air, sending vibrations through our chests as the beasts' suits of armor were vaporized, leaving behind only scorched flesh.

I charged forward, taking one of them by surprise, but it still managed to swing its oversized halberd at me. Crocea the elemental slowed its advance, and Crocea the sword cut through the haft, Candidus Murus coming up to block the blow. Yang vaulted over my head and punched the thing in its ugly face, sending it falling to the ground. I lashed out with combos of Far Slayers, cutting through the others' weapons and leaving them completely unprotected but for their natural power and whatever skills they'd retained through the transformation.

I lunged forwards, driving my knee into one of their chests, my extreme weight sending the thing tumbling into the other two on its side, Excalibur carving a deep furrow through its dense, hard flesh. I swung it twice more, first decapitating the first royal guard, then cutting the legs off the next. The third threw a punch at me, but I blocked it with a shield bash, cutting its arm off at the elbow.

It let out a beastial roar of pain and retreated several steps, giving me space to finish the second Royal Guard.

Well, unfortunately that wasn't the case, it grabbed me in its big beefy fist and slammed me into the ground, pushing itself up as new legs grew in place of the old ones, still about 90% as massive as before. I broke free from its hold and saw its ally roar into the sky, a swirling mass of black and purple energy gathering around it, coming from the ground and getting absorbed in like a vacuum.

I cut the arms off the one in front of me while observing the changes taking place, which was the simple but terrible fact that its armor was restoring itself.

I looked over to Yang, who was dealing with a fist-clutching stalemate between her and the last Royal Guard, then watched as she broke off from one of the clutches, which allowed the guard to rear back a fist, but she reacted faster, bringing up Solar Flare (the dagger from before) and cutting its first arm off, causing it to stumble back as she jumped up and spun around, decapitating it.

Not willing to be outdone, both my elemental and my sword cut off the current Paganero's arms, fifty gaster blasters vaporizing off the armor and skin of the other one. I jumped into the air and sliced the beast's head in half, then chopped it off. I landed on its shoulders and lunged, flipping in midair as I drew my sword straight through the last royal guard's body, cutting it clean down the middle.

Your level increased by one!

Yang's level increased by one!

I turned to look at Yang, panting lightly and grinning, "I think that was the last line of defense."

She nodded, "Yeah I think so. Come on, I might kill the king first~." she dashed to the shattered portcullis, giggling giddily.

I sighed and ran after her, "Don't run in without looking where you're going!" I said as I chased after her.

We came into the massive room, seeing the empty throne at the end of the hall, dusty, cold, and alone. I hummed as I approached it, gesturing for Yang to stay back.

The whole room massive, at least a hundred and fifty feet wide, by two hundred and fifty long. The atmosphere was dark and dreary, even with my Aurora lighting the way. The darkness was thick, almost unnatural. I peered beyond the edge of my light and looked at the throne. I sensed the roof was sagging from centuries of abandonment, but...

Suddenly, the air shifted, and the floor shook as down slammed a gigantic spider. Yang and I rolled away as a cloud of dust flew into the air from the shockwave of its impact.

Arma Villis Gohma, Crypt Carver Blightus
Title: The Weapon of the Vile False God of the Castle of the Damned
Level: 102

It gave a screeching, roaring hiss, six massive mandibles clacking together as four dozen eyes looked at me and all around its head. Its body was fifty feet wide and eighty feet long, covered with bone plates and a thick, tar-like substance that glued dozens of pieces of crushed steel armor and weapons to its legs and thorax. I dodged a stomping leg, trying to assess it. The biggest problem was that its least armor side was the underside, but attacking there would cause it to spill out hundreds of gallons of noxious toxins.

I warned Yang of the risks as she approached one of its ten massive legs, and I focused and buffed us both as we moved in to strike.

Combining the elements of Air, Lightning, and Metal into a new power and using it to enhance the body, you have created the skill "Resonating Strikes"!

I felt my heartbeat thrum through my body for a few seconds before the power settled in fully, and I grinned as I jumped up into its maw, Excalibur slicing through its mandibles, and I grabbed one of its fangs, feeling barbs prick my skin as I flipped up onto its back.

Aurora already burned away the poison by the time I reached its thorax, using telekinesis to keep a foothold. I stabbed Excalibur through its plate armor, running down its back and cutting through its armor as I passed, sending pulses of shock force through its internals and bleeding away its HP.

The whole thing shuddered as Yang managed to cut off one of its legs. It kept its balanced, though, and I saw Yang come up beside me, punching at its back, "Nearly fucking drowned in the blood spray!" she shouted, sending powerfully resonating shockwaves through the thing's armor and into its back. Those that didn't penetrate its thick exoskeleton at least weakened its armor somewhat. We were whittling it down fairly easily.

*JUMP*

*CRASH*

You know what? Fuck optimism.

The keep collapsed as the beast fell back down, but whereas the roof came down, we went up. Sent flying high into the sky, I reduced the power of the wind and looked at Yang. Our eyes met, a quick whisper passing between us, and we nodded to each other, "Pour everything into one big attack. This thing is a huge fucking problem!"

"On it!" she focused, her eyes shifting to blue as a ball of fire formed in her hand, growing larger and larger, then compressing into her fist as we got closer, a tinge of blue coloring the bright yellow glow around her fist. Meanwhile, I focused my aura into both my body and Excalibur, the energy of Power Burst.

We struck down, sending the thing crashing into the ground, two of its legs breaking as Yang's punch rippled through the armor and sent out a massive mess of cracks that flames gushed out of.

Manipulating her Aura and the element of Fire, Yang has learned the skill "Blast Punch"!

Meanwhile, I was jolted back up as I swung several times, sending powerful resonating shockwaves through its innards, probably rupturing an organ or cutting some artery apart, assuming it didn't just have an amorphous mass under its shell. I summoned several dozen Gaster Blasters, just for experimentation focusing on the energy they resonated with, the rhythm and power of it. It was a very powerful spell, which wasn't anything new, but it spoke to me for some reason, struck a chord somewhere deep in my being.

Yang and I jumped out of the way as its armor was scorched away, vaporized by hundreds of blasts in rapid succession, exposing its red insides. We fired off several spells directly into its innards, blowing out chunks of HP and setting the bastard on fire. I cracked my neck and slid down to one side while Yang slid down the other.

"Alright, let's see how you like THIS!" I conjured up Flash Axe, jumping up and swinging it across its underside, leaving a brief wave of energy that seared the wound open, followed by another pass, and another, and a fourth that opened a large hole in its chitinous exoskeleton, its putrid guts spilling out. I grabbed Yang and led her out through a small hole in the wall.

I panted lightly, grinning at her, "We did it, baby girl, we did it!"

Yang raised her fists to the sky, "WOOOOOHOOOOO~!"

Time seemed to slow as an explosion rang out behind us, the wall of the keep collapsing as the Crypt Carver burst through it, lunging at us and looking to gobble us up whole.

I stood my ground, focusing all of my strength into my fist and thousands of AP into a Power Strike.

*BOOOOOOM!*

Its flesh rippled and burst from the back of its neck, half its eyes exploding into great gouts of fluids. Yang retreated about thirty feet as the thing reeled, then fell to the ground, motionless.

I flexed my fingers, feeling the shattered bones instantly repairing. I grinned, "Okay, NOW we did it!"

Yang lunged back over, looking at the thing, then she dragged Solar Flare across its remaining eyes, slicing them open and heating the fluids to a sizzle, "Disgusting fat bastard." she spat at it, "Thank god this is done. So... is that it, then? End of dungeon?"

I held up a finger, waiting.

Your level increased by one!

Yang's level increased by one!

You have earned the title "Grimm Reaper"!

I nodded, "Yup, end of dungeon. We're finished here." smiling, I hit Yang with Gamer's Sight, taking in the changes to both of us.

Yang has advanced in the story of her life, earning 13 LUK in the process!

-/\/\/\/\-

Name: Yang Xiao Long
Title: Hotter than the Sun in the middle of July -} The Sun that Forever Chases the Night
Level: 63 -} 80
Class: Fiery Martial Artist
Nickname: Sun Angel

Hit Points: 33,000 -} 65,000
Aura Points: 21,000 -} 40,000
Stamina Points: 46,500 -} 90,000

Strength: 90 (+430%) = 477
Dexterity: 76 (+60%) = 121.6
Vitality: 90 (+140%) = 216
Intelligence: 70 (+70%) = 119
Wisdom: 70 (+70%) = 119
Luck: 32 -} 45
Charisma: 84

Stat Points: 30 -} 120

-/\/\/\/\-

Jaune Arc
Title: Pure Golden Glory
Level: 73 -} 77 -} 85
Class: Magic Knight v2 / Tank v3
Nickname: Knightlight

HP: 65,000 -} 74,000
AP: 215,000 -} 245,000
SP: 88,000 -} 100,000

Strength: 97 (+400%) (+140%) (+85%) (+220%) (+175%) = 1086.4
Dexterity: 93 (+400%) (+140%) (+85%) = 674.25
Vitality: 105 (+400%) (+140%) (+85%) (+220%) (+30%) (+100%) = 1128.75
Intelligence: 170 (+5) (+400%) (+100%) = 1050
Wisdom: 200 (+5) (+400%) (+100%) = 1230
Luck: 116
Charisma: 87 -} 89

Stat Points: 85 -} 105 -} 145

-/\/\/\/\-

I grinned, laughing at my new boost. Aurora was at level 98, meaning I just needed a bit more Max AP and maybe a bit more control. I wasn't going to spend anything just yet, but... it was certainly a happy moment for me.

Yang yawned slightly, smiling at me, "So... what now?"

I smiled at her, letting her climb onto my back, "Well... I've heard that a nighttime boat ride through the Venetian river-streets is awfully romantic. I figured we could do that." I teleported us back to the ground, taking off inside I.D. as I finally stopped accumulating mass to my armor, feeling it rapidly start fading away in a soft purple glow.

Yang sighed softly, "Heh, thank you for getting rid of this thing. Hugs were really hard to enjoy with it." she smiled at me, leaning her head forward and kissing my cheek.

I leaned my head back a little and kissed her lips before she could move them away, smiling at her, "Hey, wanna know something really nice?" I asked her, silencing the screams of the wind with a focus on Mystral.

"Hm? What's that?" she asked, expression curious.

I chuckled a little, "I love you."

Her cheeks pinkened a little, and her smile widened, "Wanna know something even nicer?"

I hummed, already knowing where this was going, "What is it, Sun Angel?"

She giggled a little, "I love you too."

We shared a soft, lighthearted laugh, "Damn, ain't I a lucky bastard?"

We crossed the sound barrier, cementing a peaceful silence that fell between us.

---

(about half an hour later, Yang POV)

I sighed softly, smiling at Jaune as we sat in a boat slowly traveling down the river streets of Venice, a soft song being sung by our guide.

I rested against his side, our usual outfits swapped for something more casual. For Jaune, a blue button-up that he filled out perfectly, a pair of black jeans, and leather boots. The smell of sweat and dust, with a hint of magic, gave him the full image of a hard-working huntsman who was taking some time to relax.

I myself was wearing an orange tank top and brown half-jacket, along with black shorts and white sneakers. I don't know what image I gave Jaune, but it had to be a good one, because he had his arm firmly, almost protectively wrapped around me, a smile on his lips as he hummed along to the soft song, rubbing my side gently, Jaune W: This is even better than I imagined. Heh... another of those moments, and a really fuckin' good one at that. :W

Yang W: Hehe, yeah~. You look so manly and strong, and I like how this shirt shows off your muscles. Sun Angel liiike~. :W I traced a finger over his abs.

Jaune W: Heh, you look like a happy-go-lucky girl who loves to have fun, and loves hugs too. :W he kissed the top of my head and gave me a slight squeeze, smiling as he rested the side of his head atop mine.

I smiled, sighing peacefully, Yang W: Well, I AM having fun, even if it's the kind of fun that makes you so relaxed you feel like you could fall asleep. I wish I didn't have to sleep, so I could enjoy this moment forever. :W

Jaune W: I wish I could dilate time better, so I could stretch these minutes out into days. :W

Yang W: Heh, yeah, I could see you doing that, and probably groping me too. :W

I suddenly felt his fingers brush against the side of my left breast, and my breath hitched slightly, Jaune W: Maybe, maybe, but not without your consent first, of course. :W

Teehee, he was so sweet and caring, it melted my heart.

I was thankful for finding him, or even just a guy like him. A perfect balance of traits that left him standing on top of a mountain when it came to how high his potential for being an amazing boyfriend was. Loyal, brave, confident, kind, intelligent, friendly, sweet, loving, affectionate... his status as a boyfriend was built on top of the quality of his friendship. Some women only settled for most of a package, or half a package, or a mere fraction, but not me. I couldn't see myself accepting anything less than the full, top-quality package.

I had very high standards, after all.

And as I felt Jaune hug and cuddle me close, his arm wrapped around me protectively, his eyes openly admiring every part of me, I knew... I knew he met them.

He met them all.

He raised he hand slightly, probably checking some game thing. I couldn't see what it was, but he was doing something with it.

Suddenly, his face fell and his eyes went wide. His arm tightened around me a little, and my concern didn't make it past my lips. I was concerned, yes, but it seemed like he could handle whatever it was.

He was smart like that.

---

(meanwhile, Jaune POV)

I'm a fucking idiot.

Stat Points: 145 -} 142 -} 130

DEX: 93 -} 96
CHA: 89 -} 101

By raising CHA above 100, you have earned the skill "Leader of the Hunt"!

By raising CHA above 100, you have earned the skill "Leader of the Kingdom"!

By raising CHA above 100, you have earned the skill "Leader of the Harem"!

Raising your CHA to incredible levels has unlocked the class "Charmer v3"!

Raising your VIT and CHA to incredible levels and gaining experience with women has unlocked the class "Stud v3"!

"Leading Edge Cognition" level increased by 1!

I stared at the windows, sensing Yang's growing concern as my grip tightened around her slightly, but I relaxed my visage and closed the windows, sighing softly, Jaune W: Heh, was just surprised by something, don't worry about it, baby girl. :W

Yang W: Oh... if you say so. You'd tell me if something was wrong, right? :W

Jaune W: Without a doubt. :W

That lie was like a knife in my chest.

I'd just wanted to see what my CHA 100 skills would be, and it happened to be enough points that not only was a little splurging not going to ruin me, I had enough points to push DEX high enough that my bonuses made it a whole number. Still... this wasn't what I was expecting.

I internally sighed and discretely checked the skills out of sight.

-/\-

Leader of the Hunt (Passive) Level: 1, Exp: 0.00% (achieved by raising CHA above 100)
A passive aura of charisma and inspiration that compels others to follow you in the realm of hunting. You can sway them more easily with your words and actions, making them support you as their teammate and leader.

Maximum Team Members: 3
Team Members gain 50% Inspiration bonus
Team Members gain additional 50% of bonuses from Leadership
100% increased Charisma when dealing with persons of Hunter persuasion

-/\-

Leader of the Kingdom (Passive) Level: 1, Exp: 0.00% (achieved by raising CHA above 100)
A passive aura of charisma and trustworthiness that compels others to follow you in the realm of politics. You can sway them more easily with your words and actions, making them support you as their leader.

Maximum Citizen Followers: 200
Citizen Followers gain 50% Patriotism bonus
Citizen Followers gain additional 50% of bonuses from Leadership
100% increased Charisma when dealing with persons of political faith

-/\-

Leader of the Harem (Passive) Level: 1, Exp: 0.00% (achieved by raising CHA above 100)
An passive aura of charisma and love that compels others to follow you in the realm of romance. You can sway them more easily with your words and actions, making them support you as their mate.

Maximum Romantic Partners: 2
Romantic Partners gain 50% Friendship bonus
Romantic Partners gain additional 50% of bonuses from Leadership
100% increased Charisma when dealing with persons of romantic interests

-/\-

I sighed. Okay, it wasn't really as bad as I thought, at least the first two made sense. The Hunt made sense because I wished to lead the others as a team of Hunters. The Kingdom made sense too, since I'd be taking in hundreds of people to be a part of Celeste.

However, the harem... I hadn't actually meant it that one time I'd said it. I didn't want another romantic partner, Yang was enough. She had a monopoly on my heart.

I didn't want this skill's passive power to ruin my friendships because it made the girls become attracted to me.

Sighing again, I snuggled Yang a little, kissing the top of her head, Jaune W: Hehe, this is just... perfect, right here. :W I waited several seconds for a response, but got none, W: Sunny? Something wrong? :W

I looked down at her, only to find her quietly, peacefully snoozing against my side.

I smiled at her, "Heh... so fucking adorable sometimes." I gently kissed her forehead, letting her rest against my side.

I wasn't in a hurry to tell the boatman to stop, and in fact gave him ten grand and the instructions to take us around some more, and end back in front of the hotel.

I wanted this peaceful moment to last as long as possible.

---

welp, that's the chapter!

I decided to cut it off there because I felt like it was getting too long. I've already cut out three final scene bits and put them in the next chapter, and I'll also probably go through and trim it up some more. I'm actually looking for less length now, not more. Who'da thunkit?

Hopefully this chapter doesn't end up being too long with the omake on the end.

Soooo... yeah, a lot happened and yet not a whole lot really happened. Sadly Jaune was not able to spend time with his family, but had to make time for the Mistral WF, did some reflection, went on an excursion, fought some big tough knight dudes, and in the background, Nora and Ren got their elementals.

Next chapter I'll touch on that, see about getting more time passed, and the moment no doubt many of you have been waiting for... the champion shows up.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay~!

Alright, that's really all I have to say for now. I honestly can't think of anything else. Here's the omake.

---

Omake: I'm not a comic, I'm more of a removal

---

(Near the end of the Vytal Festival Disaster, Jaune POV)

Jaune Arc
Title: The Cyan Judge
Level: 108

I closed my profile and sighed and tsked at Cinder Fall, causing her to flinch in surprise, "How disappointing. You're awful determined to kill her, aren't you?"

Cinder Fall
Title: The False Fall Maiden
Level: ?

The she-devil lowered her bow, then spun around lightning-quick and fired the arrow at me instead, the projectile breaking the sound barrier as it flew at me.

I smirked and side-stepped the arrow, grabbing it out of the air, causing her to gasp in surprise. I looked at the reinforced glass arrow for only a brief moment, my face a mask of unamused indifference. I stowed it in my hoodie and returned my hand to my pocket, "Hehe... you've been really busy, haven't you? What with your machinations of fear and tyranny at the festival." my grin only angered her, my laugh making her seethe, "I don't know if you knew to wait until I wasn't watching, or it was just dumb luck, but your plan on breaking Pyrrha with Penny's death backfired. She was easily restored to operational condition."

Cinder grit her teeth, "You're quite the pest. First you get Adam killed, and now you sabotage my beautiful plans." her grip on her bow tightened, and she took a step towards me, breaking the weapon back into two swords, "You little rat, I'm going to gut you like a fi-"

I raised a finger, "Ah ah ahhh~." I pointed to the ground, were there was a white line clearly drawn, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She paused, looking down at it, then back up at me, sighing and glaring at me, "So, is this the part where you deliver your heroic exposition?"

I shrugged, "Never been too much into that. I'm not really much of a hero, looking back on everything." I took a moment to gaze at the emerald torches illuminating the hallway, a dark and grim mockery of the scene that had played in my head the moment I realized what was happening, "I'm more of a judge, really." I grinned lazily at her, sighing.

Her mouth creased into a flat line, clearly unamused, but willing to endure my explanation.

"Now, you see, there are lines in life, lines one should never cross, and one of those lines is submitting oneself to being a part of the execution of an ordering of genocide." I gave a morose grin and chuckle, "You know, before you pulled your stunts, it was a peaceful, beautiful night outside, still is in some parts." I looked at her, "Do you really want to cross that line? I'll let you off with a life sentence if you surrender now..." I paused, then chuckled again, "Actually... I have a question for you."

Her eyes burned, "Go on... the longer you stall, the more lives are lost while you carelessly exposit these silly statements."

I smirked, "That's where you're wrong, you evil whore, even as we speak, six warriors of incredible magical power are killing off your Grimm army in droves." I took pleasure in her impotent growl of anger, "Now then... your answer to this question will determine what I do with you..." I took in a slow breath, then let it out, "Do you think even the worst people can change?" I looked at her meaningfully, "That anyone can be a good person, if they just tried?"

Her answer was as flat as a sheet of paper, "No."

I nodded, clicking my tongue, "Tch, I figured. Well... I got a better question..." I cast an illusion of a text box appearing, my face with a firm, evil grin on it, my right eye glowing, "Do you wanna have a bad time?" she looked taken aback, and I continued, "Because... if you take another step forward... you are NOT gonna like what happens next."

She scoffed, then took a single small step forwards... and immediately found herself frozen on the spot, held in place by my telekinesis.

I gave a long, low sigh, "Well... sorry, Amber, but I DID make a promise... I hope you don't hold it against me."

By raising "Illusion Dimension" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Pocket Dimension"

Dimensional Shift (Active)
Allows you to impose a small dimensional barrier in real space, inside which the world is yours to command

The world shifted, a black translucent barrier forming around us, expanding to encompass the entire hall, before turning solid black, the only things visible being the pillars, torches, and Amber's machine just barely visible behind the barrier, out of reach.

Suddenly, the stone above us turned invisible, allowing us to see the night sky, "Heh... just look at it." I grinned again, closing my eyes, "It's a beautiful night outside... grimm are dying, explosions are ringing, all in the defense of Vale..." I raised my hands, opening my glowing, burning eye, "On nights like these... witches like you..."

The world went dark, my face shadowed by my bangs as my eyes closed, and then I opened them, revealing my flaming cyan right eye.

You are filled with Patience!

Status: Filled with Patience- DEX boosted by massive levels, overcharging spells becomes much easier, spells may be prepared for casting much easier. Actions must be taken sparingly.

"Should be burning in hell!" points of bright brownish-red light formed in the air, which Cinder barely saw before dodging out of the way of a pillar of bone.

Manipulation of elemental energies in conjunction with existing spells has created the spell "Bone Stalagmite"!

By raising "Bone Stalagmite" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Bone Stalagmite Field"!

By raising "Bone Stalagmite Field" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Bonestrike Cavern"!

I grinned, over a dozen points forming in the air, which Cinder barely dodged, getting nicked and glanced by the bones sprouting from the ground. Dozens more formed, causing her to get thrown around as they slammed into her, the pillars easily rising about eight feet into the air.

She was forced to weave past not only pillars shooting up from the ground, but down from the 'ceiling', their size extending to a maximum of thirty full feet, stretching stretching nearly the whole height of the room, enough so that Cinder had to duck or get brained by them.

She wove between the pillars in her fervent, angry charge towards me, snarling with hatred as she got closer, swinging her sword...

And missing by a few feet, "What? Just because I'm 6'6 and weight nearly 400 pounds doesn't mean I can't dodge. Good thing is it DOES mean that I can punch like a motherfucker." her speed was greatly slowed by Blade Mode as well, and I landed a solid left hook on her cheek, grinning broadly. An advantage I had over Sans was that I had thick, tough, elastic, protective muscle and skin tissues protecting my bones, giving me a hell of a punch.

Cinder flew across the room, but her flames burned off her momentum and gave her a chance to spin into a land and anchor herself with her boots, which she annoyingly had traded out over her brittle glass shoes that would shred her feet to ribbons. She charged at me again and was smacked aside by a massive burst of telekinetic force, sent flying into a trio of bone stalagmites that burst from the ground, slammed into her back, ass, and legs, and was sent into the ceiling, only to be slammed down by a trio of bone stalactites.

I smirked when a realization came to mind, "Hah! Even if you escape with your life, Cinder, you can undo the fact that I just 'BONED' your ass!" I laughed at her, surrounding her in a cage of bone pillars.

She growled in anger, face reddening slightly with indignation, her swords cutting through her prison, only for Gaster Blaster to come up and burn away a chunk of her Aura. She charged me again, this time zigzagging as I forced her along a certain path, "You know... my theories were correct, not that it was hard to prove." I dodged another swing, "You were evil from the start of things, probably brought up into your evil view of the world from birth." I grinned, slipping past her sword strikes, grabbing her by the neck, and slamming her into the ground, "Too bad you couldn't quite pin down what was happening on the other side of the board. Mysterious bursts of extreme hunter-esque activity stopping and starting, but with none of the titans able to be pinned to the acts. It was like some unknown force was slaughtering the grimm like sheep... especially the sheep grimm." I chuckled, backing up from her slash.

Unfortunately for me, a sword is much longer than a knife, so the glass blade cut a path through my reinforced skin with surprising ease. I grimaced, but the wound closed in only a second and I grabbed Cinder with telekinesis, then threw her against a bone stalagmite, three more converging on her and slamming into her, until she was suddenly propelled upwards, gut-punched by a stalactite. Well over a dozen Gaster Blasters came at her, blasting her like crazy, but her strong Aura absorbed all of the damage.

I wiped a hand across my shirt, mending it with Shining Armor, "You know what the rate and frequency of these episodes indicate?" I grinned widely, almost insanely, "An end." my tone was cold and ruthless, "An end to the living hell of a world filled with the Grimm."

I dodged another sword strike, blowing her away with telekinesis, hitting her with another bone stalagmite. She seemed to have gotten serious, though, because she broke the pillar with her raw strength and rolled away, flipping to her feet.

She stood there, staring at me, her eyes glancing to the side as she turned her head, "You're nothing but a massive nuisance."

I sneered at her, "You're nothing a bitch barking up the wrong fucking tree." suddenly a tree sprouted under her, then caught fire, singing her dress and hair briefly before she blew the flames away, dismissing the ashes and turning her blades towards me.

However, instead of charging me again, she turned her head back towards Amber, eyes narrowing. Suddenly, she spun around and started running towards her.

I grabbed her with telekinesis, but she pushed forward, slowed down gradually. I upped the power and she struggled to continue.

She raised her swords and combined them into a bow, struggling to move as I ran towards her, focusing on stopping her and her arrow.

But... when her arrow fired and I tried to grab it, it effortlessly slipped through my grasp, in fact it flew through the barrier, through the glass casing, and into Amber's chest.

She awoke with a start, gasping in pain as brown light shone from her chest, radiating outwards. She looked at Cinder and coughed, eyes wide with recognition and fear.

Even as the Fall Maiden's power flew into Cinder's chest, all I could think was 'How? How did she get that arrow past my telekinesis?'

Cinder Fall
Title: The False Fall Maiden -} The Maiden of Fall's Harvest
Level: ?

I pulled out the one I'd stolen, and went wide-eyed when it was revealed that they had small runes engraved on them, enchanting them to ignore aura pretty much completely... I stuffed it into my inventory, face grim as I saw Cinder begin to float in the air, orange energy glowing and swirling around her. I roared in anger and charged at her, but a burst of light blew me away and caused my shirt to disintegrate. It regenerated rapidly as I looked at her with hatred in my eyes.

You have lost "Patience"!

She smirked at me, then gave a great bellowing laugh, "You will wither and die like all heroes before you!" flames flew from her hands in a torrent, blasting me as I forced my soul to resist the attack.

Xiburichu was too far away, I couldn't recall him regardless, we were trapped within this barrier, and though the ties that bound my elementals and I all as one were able to penetrate this barrier, I knew for a fact that they couldn't return to me once on the other side.

The thing was, I couldn't drop the barrier either. If I gave her even a single second for a chance to escape, she would be able to push back my attempts to re-trap her with the powers she now held.

Heh... conceptual powers were such bullshit... but... they went both ways, as I focused on what truly mattered.

This was not a mere battle for the safety of Vale, nor was this fight even about Vale at all, when it boiled down to it. Buildings could be rebuilt, culture regrown, so long as souls still stood strong, even in the ashes of their beaten and broken civilization, they were rise like phoenixes.

But I had to give them that chance. I had to make Cinder answer for her crimes against humanity.

I had to enact the noblest form of revenge.

You are filled with JUSTICE!

Status: Justice for the Wicked- Karmic armor, Karmic poison, ranged attacks massively empowered, "Heroic" skills massively empowered. Good and evil must clash for this power to work.

The cyan flames on my right eye died out, and my left eye suddenly turned bright gold, bright yellow flames pouring from it.

Title: The Cyan Judge - The Golden Jury

"It's your fault... the collapse of this kingdom is your fault!" I shouted at her, pulling an item from my inventory that struck horror into my heart. On the outside, it was a simple bag, one that I tied to my waist as Aurora flared up, and my own internal connection to fire protected me from Cinder's flames.

She caught on after the fourth fireball didn't affect me, but she'd given me time to draw my weapons.

Crocea Mors began glowing brightly with new magics, and Candidus Murus mechashifted more than it ever had before.

The combination of internal soul connections to physical objects, and external connections formed through The Game's recollection of history, has created the skill "Calibur Mors"!

The shield first fanned out, showing the golden vine that wrapped around the double crescents, growing six leaves each colored with a part of the rainbow. Then, it compressed slightly on the side with the leaves, the other side flipped around and morphing into a rifle stock, the hole where the sword entered flattening and widened a bit. The final product looked like a sleek, if somewhat large rifle with no visible area where the bullets fed in.

That was okay, because it didn't fire bullets like a normal gun.

By raising "Aura Projection" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Aura Condensation"!

I grinned grimly at her, "I understand how you feel, the dread that sets in when you realize that the one day that mattered, the day where all you've worked towards should come to fruition... is suddenly ripped from your grasp and torn to pieces before your very eyes." the energy of Gaster Blaster gathered in the air, compressed around the barrel of the rifle, "I understand it very well..." my tone turned cold as ice.

A rainbow-colored beam of light flew from the end of Candidus Caelum, the White Sky, and broke on the shield surrounding her, weakening as it pushed to get through. I grimaced, but noticed that her Aura was down by a considerable amount.

The only problem was that my own Aura was slowly whittling down, the aura of withering that Cinder exuded would probably have turned the stone floor to dust if given time.

I didn't give her that time. I charged at her, power flowing through Calibur Mors as I jumped up, meeting her swords with my own, glass cracking briefly as we clashed. I flew on a wave of telekinesis and met her again and again, not giving up and putting her on the defensive, pushing past her shield, my aura protecting Crocea's physical form.

I pulled back slightly, forcing more power into my sword, and swung with all my might. She only smirked, as I had given up the brief chance I had because of a falter in her forcefield, but I only snarled.

The shield flashed, pulsed, warped, and finally shattered like glass, causing her to gasp and try to block my sword. Her glass blade came up, and while Calibur Mors bounced off of her parry, it still caused her blade to shatter.

Before she could react, I came in with the rifle again and launched another condensed Gaster Blaster at it, vaporizing the remains of the weapon and leaving her with only one sword...

...which she split my face open with.

I was launched backwards by the force of the strike as a surge of pain flooded through my head. I recovered in a second, but it only took a second for her to cross the distance and stab me through the chest, stopping my heart briefly as she shot towards the edge of the barrier, trying to force her way out.

What she didn't count on was the fact that I didn't need my heart to beat to live.

So it came as a surprise when I grabbed her by the back of the head, and cast a spell I'd been saving in case things went wrong like this.

Altering pre-existing spells with new elemental frequencies has creating the skill "Sword Stalagmite"!

By raising "Sword Stalagmite" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Field of Blades"!

A perimeter of massive swords formed around the room, and I began to run along them, forcing Cinder's face to clip along them, "Suffer, bitch! Suffer for your crimes!" we turned the corner as she managed to start trying to pry my arm off of her head, but my many powerful STR buffs made her efforts worthless. Still, though, I could feel her breaking them down, a withering death slowing coming to those frequencies of power as they coursed through me.

When we reached the front of the room again, she let out a snarl and black energy pulsated off of her, hitting me as her efforts finally caused me to lose my grip.

She pulled herself to her feet, nose broken and bleeding, a small chunk of cheek flesh split from her face, and her sword clenched tightly in her grasp, "You seem to be a fan of exposition, so tell me... why? Why did you target me specifically, out of all those attacking Vale, how did you know that I was the one important enough to follow?"

My left eye blazed brighter gold, "Because I know what you did last summer... what you did has haunted me for the past 324 days, 6 hours, 41 minutes, and now 17 seconds." I roared in anger as I rapid-fire blasted her with spells from Candidus Caelum, until I actually found the weapon melting in my hands from the sheer amount of heat and energy running through it. I unleashed a massive combo of Far Strikes and Far Slayers, putting her speed to the test as she barely blocked most of them, several getting through and cutting her dress in several places, "And my heart can't afford to stave off how much I care about it any longer!"

And then I nearly lost my mind as I threw the sack at her, watching as a burst of flames flew from her hand, turning the bag to ashes in a second.

What she did not expect were its contents... well, one single content, which continued on its path and struck her in the face, bouncing off and hitting the ground with a wet, morbid crack.

It was with a heavy heart that I spared a glance at the thing laying on the floor, its very existence mocking me, my failures, and everything I've ever stood for.

The eyes were still wide with horror and fear, seemed to stare back at me, her open mouth silently screaming for my help, screaming in agony as Cinder's blade unjustly separated her head from her neck.

All I could think of for three full seconds was how it was my fault. It was my fault she was brought into this. She wasn't prepared for the responsibility, not really, she wasn't strong enough.

It was my fault.

It was all my fault...

"M-Marbel..." I muttered under my breath as sadness overwhelmed me.

Her dead eyes only stared back at me, lips unmoving. She didn't need words.

She blamed me, I knew it.

I failed her.

It was all my fault.

The authority of Justice has slipped from your grasp!

I felt my HP take a sharp drop as karma breathed down my neck, whispering spiteful words into my ears, trapping my heart in a cold iron grasp.

Cinder focused and fired a ray of pure disintegrating power at the edge of the barrier, breaking through of the walls of my Pocket Dimension and escaping, flying up the elevator shaft on twin jets of flames.

I stood up. I couldn't let her escape, I couldn't! I cast one last look to Marbel's disembodied head, then stepped past it, "I'll make this right, Marbel, I will."

I flew up the elevator shaft on a trail of wind, following Cinder as she raced up to the top of the tower. When I got there, only seconds after she did, she spun to face me, throwing a searing ball of flames, which I deflected to the side with Crocea Mors, the toxic smoke not even affecting me.

She growled in anger, both eyes blazing with bright orange flames, "You should have died! I drove my sword through your heart!"

I sneered at her, "You hit the crack that formed when it broke long ago, you wicked bitch, and now... now?" I chuckled as I reformed the dimensional barrier, my eye still glowing gold.

Cinder launched a stream of flames at me, but Gaster Blaster broke the stream and took another chunk of her HP away. When the smoke cleared, she found me mere inches from her face, my grin growing wild and vicious, my eyes wide, as I uttered six words that sealed her fate.

"You're gonna have a bad time."

Pushing away all other thoughts...

Our swords clashed as we entered a nearly supersonic stalemate and parried and blocked blows.

...focusing solely on your ultimate task in this moment...

I stabbed Cinder with Crocea Mors, but her flames simply began to melt the sword. I pulled it back in shock, looking at the now half-intact blade.

...and dedicating every fiber of your being to the completion of your goals...

I roared in anger, and both of my eyes began to blaze with a brilliant shade of red.

The entire pocket dimension turned pitch black, leaving us in a void of darkness even as we were both completely illuminated.

...has blessed you with the power of the greatest of the seven core characteristics of humanity!

The power flooded my body, and I felt my body almost threatening to burst at the seams with raw energy.

YOU

ARE

FILLED

WITH

D.E.T.E.R.M.I.N.A.T.I.O.N.!

Status: Determination to Triumph- Every part of your being is massively empowered. Some attacks may be empowered with "Absolution Damage". You must stay determined!

Title: The Golden Jury -} The Crimson Executioner

I roared with anger as, in an instant, I created a new spell dedicated to this power. A tendril of bright red energy shot up from the ground, spearing Cinder through the heart, but leaving in only a moment.

It didn't seem to have any visible effects. However, I wasn't even CLOSE to finished.

I decided to match Cinder's determination to perform a genocide with a yet greater determination to prevent one.

However, Calibur Mors had failed me, so I brought out a weapon that made me smile.

By raising "Gleaming Dagger" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Assassin's Knife"

By raising "Assassin's Knife" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Carnwennan"!

By raising "Gaster Blaster" to level 99, you have earned the skill "Master Gaster Blaster"!

The pure white dagger shone bright, and I felt a shroud of smoky shadows surround me as darkness was forced out to make room for pure light. The smoke clung to my body, making what parts of my body they touched feel lighter, "Welcome to my special hell."

And just for special effect, I used the skill Elemental Aurora to change the element of my Aurora to Music, the glow exiting the visible light spectrum and playing the song Megalovania on full blast.

Cinder's stance faltered briefly as fear struck her, my words and the new song affecting her. She corrected a moment later, but I'd already crossed the space between us.

I slashed her across the chest with the now bright red blade, filled with the power of my determination, and it didn't seem to do anything but make her gasp. She slashed at me, but I dodged just barely, landing two more slashes before she kicked me in the chest, sending me flying away.

I corrected my course mid-air and landed on the massive draconic skull of my Master Gaster Blaster, surprised by the size of it. A deep red beam of energy cut through the air, hitting Cinder head-on as she attempted to dodge, but the beam simply swept after her, dealing what appeared to be very little damage.

The skull remained, and I recharged it, "You know... it might sound strange, but I had been secretly hoping I could have turned you over to our side for a long while, before I learned about what did..." another beam fired, not so much flying through the air as it pushed it aside, leaving thunder in its wake, "I briefly had the thought, 'Maybe if she got the power of the Fall Maiden, she'd realize she shouldn't be this way, maybe she'd change, maybe this was all a setup?'."

Cinder broke the skull with a beam of glass, her panting having gotten twice as deep as before. Another three tendrils shot up and stabbed her with their red energy and 'absolution damage', which I was beginning to think was misnamed. I landed on my feet, eyes blazing as I charged again, unleashed several more barely-blocked slashes, and got her with another tendril through the back, "I thought maybe... maybe you just needed a do-over in life? Maybe an honest friend, one to help you forget how shitty your life before was, someone who could teach you a better way."

She snarled, eyes steaming lightly as she broke through my guard and slashed me across the chest.

I coughed as blood poured from the wound. I looked down at it, squinting my eyes, then looking up at her, grinning as if what she just did only proved my point, "But that's just ridiculous, isn't it?" her glare faltered slightly, "Yeah... you're the type of person who'll NEVER be happy."

I kicked her in the stomach, causing her to slam back against the wall of the pocket dimension. She tried to send a wave of flames at me, but they died far faster than they normally would have, my influence demanding it. She ran at me once more, flames trailing behind her as she poured on the speed. I dodged the slash with a jump, pivoting and turning in midair so that my fist was pointed at her, directing the angry Master Gaster Blaster at her, scorching her once more.

She slashed at the beam and broke it apart as it ended, preventing some of the damage, but that's when I saw the changes that had occurred.

Cinder Fall
Level: ? -} 158

I gasped, watching as she surged towards me, a wide arcing swing coming at my right side. I blocked it with Carnwennan, then slashed her across the chest, going into a rapid combo and hitting her over a dozen times, reducing her level by about four.

That was what it meant by 'Absolution Damage'. I was literally damaging her as a character, cutting away at the determination in her soul. It didn't take a genius to figure that with enough hits, I'd reduce her from a titan of power down to something no greater than an unempowered human.

Now that I could track her level, I delivered a heavy hit and slammed her into the ground, spearing her through the chest again and chipping off another level. Now able to see her bars, I watched as my damage was barely doing more HP and AP damage than the amount of Max HP and AP that it chipped away. She was also losing STR, DEX, and VIT, "I know that if I don't stop you now, you'll just consume the other kingdoms in the name of your 'living goddess', Salem. Whatever she's promised you, she's a devil and a devil never holds true to their promises. You need to just GIVE UP!" I blasted her with several Master Gaster Blasters, reducing her level by ten more, "Or I'll be forced to show you my deadliest attack!"

A blast of flames struck me, blocked by a guard that I threw up, but then I felt my arms get severed by her burning glass sword.

I spread my arms wide as they regrew in a split-second, and I poured my speed into a heavy combo. She made to block with her sword, but my third punch shattered the blade and an MGB vaporized the shards. A second Carnwennan formed as I grabbed the first, both turning blood red again, and I slashed her what felt like a hundred times before landing a two-fisted punch to her stomach, sending her slamming back down into the floor.

I scoffed down at her, "Alright then... survive this, and I'll show you my special attack." what she didn't know was that she was already facing my deadliest attack, but I had one last trick up my sleeve.

She seemed to be feeling the effects of my attacks now, because I sensed fear coming from her. She made to attack again, but she was thrown around by my telekinesis, impaled by at least two of the spears every time she failed to get away. She barely dodged a few MGB beams, but the gap between her and the missed beams rapidly closed, and she lost more power as it was literally vaporized off of her soul.

After a while, I decided that it really was the best idea to just slam her around, stabbing her with the tendrils of energy that scraped her power away.

I slammed her into the floor, walls, and ceiling once, twice, ten times, twenty times, fifty times, a hundred times, each time hitting her again and again with spear after spear after spear, my grin growing so bright I literally felt my face split open briefly. All the while, I monologued to her.

"People like you rise up in history all the time, and while you only focus on the deaths of heroes, you forget so often that those same heroes slew dozens of evils in their time before their strength failed them. For every one hero that you evil lords and ladies slay, they've already claimed hundreds of your vile, corrupt, damned souls! Salem will meet her end." I slowed her to a halt, and forced her to sit on her knees on the floor, looking up at me as I landed on the ground, "She should know, that she's not just fighting a man, or a woman," I changed to my female form, a lock of disheveled shoulder-length hair falling over my nose, "Or even a redeemed monster." I shifted into the form of a Grimm, red eyes and black scleras glaring into her soul as five tendrils scraped across her body over and over. Their motions could have been considered erotic if not for the clear unerotic agonizing pain it inflicted on the evil bitch, so in a way it could have been considered like special flames that I directed across her, her levels withering away, "She's fighting a force she cannot deny. A force that will not die with just the head of one being. She is fighting against something as inevitable as the dawn or the tides, as the wind or the rain, something that will eventually claim her wicked life no matter how hard she fights."

I turned back into a woman, my two blades condensing into one, and I stood over her, grabbing her by her scalp and forcing her to look into my flaming red eyes, "Do you know what she's fighting against?"

Cinder only grit her teeth, anger slowly being drowned by fear.

Cinder Fall
Title: The Withered Fall Maiden
Level: 25

"She's fighting against the universal law that good shall triumph over evil." the five spears stabbed through her chest, then retracted.

I took a few steps back, "You've reached the end of the line, Cinder Fall. I'm surprised that you're still alive." I smirked, "Alright... well, for getting this far, I'll show you my special attack." I raised my hand, which swirled with dark purplish-gray and yellow energy, "Here goes nothing!"

She clenched her eyes and braced herself as best she could, tears squeezing through her lids as she prepared for the final blow.

The pocket dimension began shrinking around us, turning translucent once again, and a small hole opened up as it came down past me.

When it ended, Cinder was trapped in a small black cube, unable to escape.

After a while, she looked up at me, her resolve shattered, her own determination having died away. Twin trails of tears cut through the dirt and dust caking her face.

I almost pitied her, as my form shifted back to normal. There she was, the once-queen of her forces, now on her knees, trapped in a prison of spatial energies, reduced to the level of a crying, rag-clad little girl.

I almost pitied her, I really almost did.

... but I stayed determined.

"That's right. It's actually nothing. I am willing to stand here until the end of time and watch as you wallow in the grief and agony caused by the psychological torture of all your sins crawling on your back and weighing on your neck. Karma shall poison you until it drains every ounce of strength you hold, and... I wonder what will break first, your resolve, or your soul?"

The dragon trapped in the distant mountain finally made its way to us, and I simply turned my head, my elementals coming back to me, "Begone, pest." MGB formed, its laser firing wider than its mouth even allowed, consuming the dragon whole and turning it into nothing more than ashes and smoke.

Cinder stared in shock and horror as her pet was annihilated, then looked at me, just in time to see me take a step towards her.

I just smiled, "You know... I think I understand now. Making you suffer so much is just too cruel for a hero like me. I'm going to give you mercy."

"M-mercy?" she repeated back to me in surprise.

I nodded, "Yes. Mercy." I dismissed the pocket dimension and lifted her to her feet. Relief shot through her features... until I raised Carnwennan again, laughter slipping from my wide, toothy grin.

"The mercy of death."

*JWEOOM*

Cinder Fall
Title: The Fallen Fall Maiden
Level: 0

I grabbed her face, feeling blood gush from the wound that ran straight down her body, effectively slicing her in half. She began to glow bright red, and then turned to ashes.

My hand fell to the weak and battered soul remaining in her place, right as I heard Ruby running up the stairs, reaching the top and staring at me in shock.

I gazed at the soul in my hands.

Cinder Fall/Fall Maiden's Soul

Description: The broken and battered soul of Cinder Fall, clinging weakly to its new core that is the power of the Fall Maiden. With her outer soul torn away by the 'absolution damage' of Determination Attacks, her strength was worn away and eventually failed her entirely, leaving her body as nothing more than dust in the wind.

Effects: +1 Fire Affinity, +1 Air Affinity, grants the powers of the Fall Maiden upon consumption.

I only smiled at the soul, "It's over... it's actually over."

Satisfaction filled my chest like a massive fire, and I looked at Ruby, smiling, "I warned her... but she didn't listen." I turned to her fully, smiling.

She looked shocked, "J-Jaune... the city is... the city is alright, a lot of buildings were destroyed, but casualties were minimal. Everyone's alright... everything's going to be alright." she looked to be on the verge of tears of joy.

I consumed the soul, earning the title The Fall Maiden, as well as a flurry of other powers, but I just closed it all and smiled at Ruby, "Welp, I'm going to go get some shawarma, Rubes." I put rested my hands in my hoodie pockets, walking over to the hole that led down the elevator shaft.

I gazed down it as Ruby slowly walked over, hugging me tight. I put an arm around her, a solemn and sad smile on my face as I stared down into that abyss of blackness. I whispered just five words under my breath, words that placed the final crack in my heart that let the poison start draining.

"Do you want anything, Marbel?"

---

Just... shit, man.

That was quite an intense omake!

I hope y'all liked it.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, which 100% confirmed will have best spartan in it.

John-117, step aside and make way for the crimson-haired champion.

Woot!

Other than that, probably just more progression on skills, training, prestiges, and the likes.

Welp, that's all I have, here's the stat dump.

-/\/\/\/\-

Jaune Arc
Title: Champion Boxer
Level: 85
Class: Magic Knight v2 / Tank v3
Nickname: Knightlight

HP: 74,000/74,000
AP: 245,000/245,000
SP: 100,000/100,000

Strength: 97 (+400%) (+140%) (+85%) (+220%) (+175%) = 1086.4
Dexterity: 96 (+400%) (+140%) (+85%) = 674.25
Vitality: 105 (+400%) (+140%) (+85%) (+220%) (+30%) (+100%) = 1128.75
Intelligence: 170 (+5) (+400%) (+100%) = 1050
Wisdom: 200 (+5) (+400%) (+100%) = 1230
Luck: 116
Charisma: 101

Stat Points: 130

Age: 17
Birthday: November 20th
Race: Human
Height: 6'2
Weight: 260
Build: Med-Heavy Athletic
Hair/Eyes/Skin: Golden Blonde / Brilliant Azure / Medium Tan

-/\/\/\/\-

Alrighty, that's everything.

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This is Player1 signing off, ^w^

See ya next time~!