Multiplayer

by NeoShadows

Life is a game. In an attempt to save a friend during the Breach, Jaune Arc died. Brought back to life with powers of a Gamer, he must now attempt to beat the game called life. He's not alone though. Every win or lose ends in a Reset, so how will he beat a game that never ends?

15. Hollow

NeoShadows here! And it's time for a new chapter!

After two weeks, again. Man, I swear I didn't think this one would take so long, or be so long either. I'm actually surprised with the length, I think it's more then the last chapter. Ain't that something? I've literally finished this chapter and finished editing it before bed. I also blame Dragon Quest, Fragments of a Forgotten Past. It's been hollering at me, and I needed to answer it.

Life's been alright. My hours at work have been pretty screwy since we're short staffed, so I've come home more tired after so many coffees. And our little pup is good, but a handful. Can't tell you how many times I've stepped onto some crap. So, things are a good.

I will say this, once again, I am worried for my progress. Pokemon Sun and Moon is nearing ever closer, and I know I won't be able to resist its seductive moans for me to play. I need to finish this up, we've only got six chapters to go before Volume 1 of this fic is done with.

Before we go over reviews, DAMN. We got a lot of reviews last chapter. My story is now at 400+ reviews and we're halfway to a thousand Followers and Favorites. That's pretty good for a story that's been up for four months. Let's keep this going! Bathe me in your reviews! . . .I've kinda forgotten to shower.

Now, to Reviews!

GhostHornet: I won't confirm, but good on ya. Yeah, she was adorable. Ah, Greedy Death, that's a fun little ability that won't be seen for a long while. As for forms, you'll have to see. I like your idea though.

Writer with Bad Grammar: . . .Aren't we all writers with bad grammar? Sorry, just had to with that user name. Me likey. You're are literally the first to think Unlimited Love Works. Nope, but now I'm thinking of a DLC piece involving the idea. And soon enough, this story will reach such high marks, we just gotta spread word about it is all. Tough to do with so many Gamer fics steering people away from it. And Adam and Ren's personalities were fun to make. Wait to you see the last of the four players.

Jjshawn: . . .Really? Well. . .damn. Gonna have to fix that typo eventually. Gotta read that wiki more often. Thanks for the heads up.

Im not Itachi: The health thing was explained in Chapter 10 right around the beginning.

AmazaiTheAmazing: Never saw that anime, but I've heard the saying before in some comments online. Gotta watch it when I have the time.

Remzal Von Enili: Aaaaaand, now I have another DLC idea.

Zachary2: Pfft, you haven' seen nothing yet. Huh? So, my writing has gotten a bit better? Sweet. Still need a beta though, still making some mistakes here and there. And yeah, the pain still there, but I'm better. Still got her memory to keep me going. Glad to know I make you smile.

DoubleDamn: Ahh, the health thing. You wouldn't be the first to ask about it. Most it is explained in the beginning of Chapter 10, but Jaune's health dripping down is due to a Bleeding Status, dropping his health with every passing second based on the damage received. Doesn't sound whiny, it's a good question to ask. And yup, it is based on Kingdom Hearts. That game has heavily inspired elements in this game. It's my favorite.

Kegi Springfield: . . .I ain't answering that. . .ya bastard. Good to see ya reading the fic, bud!

Wandai: So much guessing! Guess what? You'll be guessing a lot more after this chapter. And boy, does shit go down here! The identity of the final Player is slowly coming forward, we may even get a peek of him next chapter. Ann isn't Cardin's sister, but that would have made one hell of a plot twist. And the Administrators are a curious bunch, who says any of them are bad? After all, if they watch over things, who commands them? So much we don't know! . . .Well, ya'll don't know, I know plenty.

A Fan1204: Tell me about it, you know I tried to make this at most 15,000+ words? That wasn't happening as my fingers refused to stop typing till I was completely done. When I started this fic, I knew I didn't want it to turn out like the other Gamer fics, filled with so much mechanics that I would simply skim through them to get to the plot and action. That and I didn't know how to calculate much of that stuff. And adding more then one Player had never been the original intention when I had first begun developing this story. It sort of happened after thinking over some aspects people forget, that and playing Undertale had also inspired some ideas to the function too. Made it all the more original, so glad you liked it. Ren does know of the 'gods', but he simply doesn't care about them since he's given up interacting with them. Scarlet Knight? My man. Though I like many ships, that is on my top three. Now, lets see how long Jaune's new form will last. In Kingdom Hearts, the drive forms are limited, same goes here. Love that game and its ways of inspiring me. I'm sure you'll be guessing more after this hell of a chapter.

TalonIbAlhad: Dude, you're groove is fucking back! I'm sad that you had to end the little tale, I was enjoying it. I can't wait for your fic to come out, I'm favoriting that shit! The fight with Holt was a bit tricky, but I believe it worked out on displaying how underleveled Jaune was. Scott Pilgrim? My brotha! Something for the future maybe. Ah, Adam. He was an interesting Player to work with. Wait till after this chapter. Life's rough, but we get by. Got you idiots to keep me going.

Acerman: Don't worry about it. Can't wait to see what story you publish soon. So many questions, most of them will be answered in this chapter. And the rest in chapters to come. Trust me, bud, this final one is crazy. I like your OST suggestion, better find some good ones for this chapter. I recommend some sad ones, trust me, you'll understand. Don't worry, someone left the Onion Ninja out again, your tears are justified for now.

Donzo! Time to get on with the show! I need sleep.

---

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, it belongs to RoosterTeeth. I do own some crutches from getting run over by a truck. Shit hurts. But they do make excellent beating sticks.

Hear that, Chris Hanseen? I got something to defend myself with now! What anime I watch is between me and god's shaking head of disappointment! I ain't some perv who loves lolis! . . .The grown woman simply resemble them, completely different. Especially when it comes to hentai.

. . . . .Why the fuck is my closet door unlocked? And where the fuck did that seat come from?

---

Chapter 15: Hollow.

Through the dank halls of the upper level of the main FoF hideout, Ann huffed as she ran in search of the damned blonde idiot known as Jaune.

The last thing she had seen before winding up in Holt's study had been Jaune's reaching hand. Her head still ached like someone had taken a jack hammer and focused all their strength into their arm muscle before dropping it onto her skull. She flinched as a sharp pain stabbed her head. Who would have thought Blondie would have it in him? It was a good thing her aura hadn't shattered in the fight, her wounds were still busy healing.

A loud boom shook the floor under her feet, stumbling her a bit before finding her footing again. She shook her head, gritting her teeth as she doubled her speed. Holt most be going wild down there, wouldn't be surprised if he had already whipped out Death Rattle it all its deadly glory. Which meant that Blondie didn't have much longer to live. While the huntsman in training had displayed great potential in fighting Grimm, Holt was on a level above those dark creatures. He was a monster of monster's with a goal, as twisted as it was. So much as scratching him would prove a chore in futility.

She didn't have long to stop them from killing another. She didn't know much about Jaune, but in a fight with a man like Holt, there was no other way to win then to kill another. The Rule of Swords, something her Boss held in high regard for some weird reason. It's why he fought most of the time with his weapon wrapped in bandages. Only those worthy of dying to his hands were worthy of seeing its glorious steel. If Jaune had any hope of surviving he would have to follow his rules and dig his sword into his dead corpse to walk away from this mess. The mess she had regretfully dragged him into the first place.

Her fault. It was her fault. What the hell was it about her that caused the few people she ever gave a damn about to die? Was it a curse for people to eventually die when she let them into her heart? What fucked up being would pull that kind of shit on her? It wasn't fair. Getting closer to others would only spell more graves facing her, more ghosts haunting her thoughts. Only the loud and drowning sounds of music could ever silence the haunting voices, blaming her for their passing's. And now the same curse was going to fall onto Blondie. No one could beat Holt with his years of training and semblance mastery.

Jaune's only chance of surviving was for her to reach him before Holt ran him through his mangled body. A loose tear slipped out of her eye, twinkling as it flew past her, getting closer to her only friend left in the world.

'Please, don't let me too late.' Hope and prayer were the only things she had on her at the moment. For once she would pray to whatever psychotic being playing with all their lives for her friends safety. At least until she made it to him.

Sunset had passed, leaving them in the night of the next day to come. Tomorrow was coming. And she would make sure that those left that she cared for would be there to see it.

---

In all the fighting and drama going down below Vale, you would have to wonder what had happened to the remaining members of team RWBY and JNPR. With so much going on, what were the girls doing in all the chaos to reach their friends?

"MOVE IT, FATASS!"

Yang jumped over a swift ax swing aimed to chop her down from the waist, firing off a shotgun shell below her to send her flying up. She twisted out of the way as a sawing disk flew at her, firing another shell to rocket off the repulsion and smash her fist into the very large FoF grunt in her way. A deafening boom echoed from the impact to no reaction.

A guttural growl hummed from the man's throat before he swatted his odd ax at the busty blonde girl.

Weiss tsked, flicking her finger at Yang's form, summoning a glyph around her. Pulling her finger forward, her gravity glyph attracted her back to her and out of the way of the swing, thankfully missing her golden locks by a literal hair. Wouldn't want Yang losing anymore of her temper right now. Not when they were all so close to reaching Blake and Velvet. An odd vroom caught her attention, warning her of the sawing teeth edge of the claymore coming for her head. Weiss ducked under the sawing blades, flipping her feet to kick the blow away before spinning on her feet to stab her rapier in deadly thrusts.

"Sorry, Little Angel. You know that's not going to work. Don't you ever learn?" The female grunt winked as she refused to dodge the thrusts. Her body seemed to fade like an old image, her body becoming see through. The rapier thrusts did nothing, dealing no type of damage to the woman's body as she laughed boisterously. Still in her ghostly like form, the woman moved her claymore up, raising it high and dropping it down to bisect the pretty girl. Her arm became solid, ready to end the girl only for a bullet to bounce her attack back, sending her form stumbling back with a wince. She growled angrily, flipping her long black ponytail back as she cocked her hip at the redheaded girl flinging her golden round shield for her. That wouldn't work, she shook her head with a laugh as her body turned transparent. Again and again, the girl moved her magnetized hand around her to return her spinning shield to attack her from all directions, doing little to actually harm her body.

Said woman had a milk chocolate skin tone, the upper part of her face from her nose visible due to the face mask being cut off from the top. She wore the standard pants, only with an open vest to show off her finely slim stomach and short black tank top, black and white camo arm sleeves, no military goggles and a white berate. Her icy blue eyes winked at Pyrrha's frustrated expression before bouncing back as Nora spun in the air to slam her hammer where she stood. The ground was pulverized to pieces, lightning sparking from the impact and crater left behind by the bubbly orange haired huntress.

"That would have hurt." The woman sniffed as she landed back to the large form of her partner. The man stood 6 foot tall, his body bulging with muscles. His skin tone was the same as her own, standing shirtless seeing as their was no uniform in their stock that would fit properly on him without ripping apart. At least he was still fit enough to wear the standard pants and shoes. He wore the same arm sleeves, intricate spiraling tattoos running over his muscled arms up to his neck where a weathered scar ran along his neck. He had a buzz cut, his ski mask the same as his partner only designed after the bottom of a skeleton's bony mouth. His icy blue eyes peeked at her, the woman's eyes trembling with crocodile tears as she looked up at him expectantly, "Little Han, are you going to let them get away with nearly hurting your big sister? I could have been scratched awfully bad. Take them out for your big sis, Voila, will ya?"

"That's fucking bullshit!" Yang roared angrily, shaking her raging fist at the woman who turned back to pull down her eyelid and blow a raspberry at them like a child, "We can't even touch her with her stupid ass semblance!"

Han growled loudly in a throaty roar, pushing out his chest as his muscles bulged, increasing his mass and height in a glow of ghostly green aura. The ax's in his hand, designed with a red steel hilts with slithering dragons and intricate lunar arc like ax blades, were slammed together at their ends over his head, forming a double ended ax at arms length. Red Dust gems adorned the middle of each ax blade, igniting flames to crawl over their forms in blazing fires. He spun the newly formed labrys over his head, turning it into a buzzing wheel of orange red fire as he glared angrily at the huntresses who dared try to harm his beloved sister.

"He's like a male Yang, only the angrier he gets, the bigger his muscles and height get." Nora chimed brightly as she stood beside said blonde.

All four girls had received the message from Jaune revealing where Blake and Velvet had been taken and had scrambled to reach the sect of the city known as Crime Haunt. While it was strange that the blonde knight had quickly discovered where they had been taken too, they were too focused on making it their before something horrible fell onto their friends. Questions could be asked later when they were all safe and sound at Beacon. And after nearly an hour of running for the hidden nest of crime activity, they had made it to the gated entrance, only to met opposition to the way into the abandoned city. Grunts had greeted them to which they quickly dealt with. Their numbers were thinning from the looks of it, so they were no problem to finish. But then two new grunts had jumped in, completely unlike every FoF member they had faced until now. Finely trained and with unique semblances that made it difficult to mow them down.

And frankly, Yang was starting to get really pissed off at the two. Her partner layed over that damned gated off entrance, in the hands of a lunatic trying to play hero of some kind. Along with Velvet, a faunus that his little organization planned to amputate to make her seem human. Time was a precious factor here, the more time they wasted, the more the chances of saving them would fall. And here they were playing ghost tag with a couple of jokers. Her body erupted with a blazing aura, her eyes dying red as she growled at the two FoF members in her way.

It was never a good thing to get in her way when she was pissed.

"I don't know about you guys, but I've reached my limit of patience with these clowns!" she roared, loading another sleeve of shotgun shells into Ember Celica, "I'm ready to abandon strategy to go in fists blazing to pummel them to dust!"

Weiss rolled her eyes at the fiery blonde, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I know we don't have much time to lose here, but we need to think about this. One of them can avoid physical attacks at a drop of a hat, and the other is nothing but pure muscle mass at this point. Charging in like bulls won't do us any good. They're clearly well trained, they must be gatekeepers of some sort." The two left in their way were nothing like the grunts they've encountered so far. Well, the woman was. The bigger man didn't think much, listening to his partner's commands mostly. If they were going to reach their friends, then they needed to find some hole in their attacks and abilities to beat them.

Looking at the crater left behind by Nora, Pyrrha frowned as a thought struck her, "Did any of you notice the woman dodged Nora's attack earlier, along with any other she would attack her with?"

Weiss glanced back at Pyrrha, her face lightly scrunching up in thought, "Now that you mention it, of all our attacks, she would simply dodge and evade Nora's. And my Dust attacks as well. Why is that?"

"What have you been swinging with Magnhild, Nora?" Yang asked the orange haired girl who grinned back brightly.

"I've been infusing it with my semblance, silly! Gives my swings an added oomph! And a chance to paralyze her still for a home run!"

"Elemental weakness?" Pyrrha said in thought.

"It would explain why she's only been evading my glyphs instead of my rapier strikes." No semblance was perfect. Even her own glyphs had flaws. If she lost her concentration on even one, they would fail to work. She needed patience and clarity to command them just right. "That leaves us with one plan. But just how are we going to take out the bigger of the two? I doubt my attacks would even budge him back a bit." Weiss frowned in frustration. Even one hit of his fists could take her out of the count.

Yang grinned widely in response, her hair flowing with flames as she smashed her fists together, "Oh, don't you worry about the big lug. I got him covered."

The four huntresses readied themselves with their plans in mind. They loaded their weapons with the last of their ammo, prepared to finish this and rescue their friends.

A lazy voice chuckled at them from behind, tensing their muscles at the new comer walking into their fight.

"My, my, don't they look haggard? Maybe I should spare a gumdrop or two to get them on their feet again. What do you think, Professor?"

"That's Doctor, Mr. Pithos! I didn't slave over paperwork after paperwork for my degree! Besides, it's obvious that a nice, pipping hot, mug of coffee would better suit them after all their fighting. I know it's doing wonders for myself right now."

Voila narrowed her eyes at the new intruders calmly walking into their view. A man wearing an open labcoat and trucker's hat, chewing on a rather large taffy bar, walked alongside another man with wild green hair, glasses, an open explorers coat, and sipping from a thermos without a care, stood behind the four equally confused girls.

Great, more trouble. The boss was not going to like this at all. Couldn't message him now, he was in the middle of welcoming two new recruits. And with one of them having caught her own eyes, she couldn't afford to let them down. The blonde boy looked like he could fight, and he was kinda cute. She needed something to entertain her while she was working for the FoF and he looked like a screamer.

"Professor Oobleck, Professor Pithos? What are you dong here?" Weiss asked at complete loss at the two teachers standing behind them, unfazed by the events around them.

Professor Pithos frowned with a pout, tearing off a chunk from his treat as he answered for the both of them, "We were enjoying a nice little chat about Dust and its history in the Great War at a nice little coffee shop until these no good trouble makers barged in to take faunus hostage. So, naturally, we stuck them in time out for misbehaving. They won't be escaping those gel balls for at least five hours at most, just like the others that got in our way." He sighed in depression, a dark cloud hanging over his head despite the fact he was enjoying a taffy treat, "And I was enjoying a nice candy flavored coffee Bart had introduced to me. Now it's gone to waste. . . .it was peppermint flavored."

"Mr. Arc's message had been sent to all on his contacts list. And, as all teachers do on their first day of class, we had given him our numbers in case he needed any help in his studies. Knowing that two of our students were in the hands of some radical group of humanizers, we of course headed for their destination." Oobleck explained as he took a moment to sip from his steaming thermos. He smiled kindly at his four students, their uniforms torn and teared from their numerous fights. They must have called in their weapons from their lockers, and to think people questioned the use of a rocket propelled locker.

"It seems you're all just about at your limits for the day. I suggest stepping aside for the moment. Me and Professor Pithos would gladly clear you a path to your friends. Wouldn't want you going in exhausting all of your energy, now would we?"

"He's right." Pithos nodded in agreement, reaching into his coat before tossing four red colored candied balls at the four girls. They turned them over their fingers, finding a flaming cartoon head squinting with watery eyes and steam blowing out its ears, "Those are Hot Sparks, little redheads with a spicy kick to them. I synthesized them from my personal stock of treats and Dust. They should kick start your auras and help them restore your energy and stamina a bit. Should be enough for anymore obstacles in your way." he smiled lazily.

Nora grinned at the treat, popping it into her mouth hungrily. Didn't need to tell her twice. She needed a little sweet after the day she was having. Her face suddenly became red, sweating as she fanned her burning mouth.

"HOT! HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT!"

"I thought you said it had a little kick to them." Yang said flatly as she watched the hammer girl run around in small circles, "Stop, drop, and roll, dammit!"

Professor Pithos ignored the questioning looks of his students, instead focused on Nora's reaction to his sweet, "Huh? Guess I may have added a tid bit too much Fire Dust to the mixture. Note to self," he said boredly, taking a small recorder from his lab coat to speak into as he watched Nora try to scoop dirt into her mouth to relieve the burning sensation, only to be stopped by Pyrrha's hand, "Add a pinch of Ice Dust to counteract the intense flavor of fire. Too much of a good thing is apparently bad for you. Who would have thought?"

Weiss and Pyrrha eyed the very spicy treat with suspicion. Their aura's were growing a bit weak after all the fighting, didn't need to go into the base of the villain if they weren't in top form. They looked to Yang for her opinion, only for the blonde to swallow the redball and grit her teeth as her face became red. No pain, no gain, it seemed. Steeling their resolves, the two girls popped the treats into their mouths, fighting the hot sensation of the candy scalding their tastes buds.

Well, at least their professor was right. They could feel their auras kick starting and healing what little wounds they had on them. At the simple cost of their burning mouth.

"I feel like we're being ignored." Voila said with a twitching brow. They were threats for crying out loud! Who looked away from their enemies to munch on candy? She'd show them. Looking back to her brother, she gestured her head to the group of hunters, "Finish them off, little Han. I'm growing bored here."

Han's nodded his head with a growl. He didn't like it when his sister was upset. Gathering enough momentum from his spinning of his labrys, Han's swung his double ended ax against the ground in front of him, sparking a rising rush of flames to trail after the hunters in their sights. The rising flames towered the hunters, nearing ever closer to their demise.

"That's looks dangerous." Pithos said flatly while chewing his taffy. Sighing, the candy loving teacher pocketed his treat before moving his hands to satchel. Pandora's side popped open, revealing several colored buttons and dials hidden underneath the fabric. His fingers danced around the controls, the hum and whirls of his weapon deafened by the flames racing towards them. The satchel buckled, falling silent as an icy blue Dust crystal popped out from the top of a hidden opening of his weapon. "If you would be so kind, Doctor Oobleck." he said as he tossed the crystal up in the air.

Professor Oobleck nodded his head silently, catching the Dust in his hand quickly before dropping it into his thermos and shaking it furiously.

"My thanks, Doctor Pithos." he grinned as his little coffee holder began to morph. A lance like hilt dropped from the bottom of the thermos while the top sprung a cylinder like exhaust. Mist escaped the top of his weapon. With the flames just about to devour them whole, Professor Oobleck aimed his weapon forward, unleashing a torrent of chilling mist to met the attack head on. The two elements fought for a bit, refusing to back down to the other. But the cold front proved to be too strong, freezing the flames into beautiful crystal décor in its wake.

Voila frowned as she dodged the torrent of mist steering at them. Looked like they weren't to be judged on appearance. "Smash them to bits!" she shouted at Han's as she dashed after them. She held her claymore in both hands, separating them from the middle to wield two single edged long blades with saw toothed edges. Her body became faded as the top of Han's ax detached to fire a chained blade spinning like a saw, shooting through her ghostly image.

Sighing, Professor Pithos reached for the side of his waist, brushing his coat to the side to reveal a gun holster attached to his belt. A large 13 inch black hand cannon fell into his grip as he aimed it for the ponytailed woman charging at them. It's barrel was block like and possessed two triangle cylinders along with a shotgun pump. Six barrel holes greeted Voila instead of the normal one, aligned in two rows of three lining down. The top two barrels lite up with yellow light before he pulled the trigger. Two lightning fused caliber bullets fired after Voila, cutting the right side of her cheek as she tried moving out of the way. The sawing ax blade wasn't so fortunate. It was bounced back as the bullets struck it. Seeing the woman spinning around her fanged toothed blades to slash at Pithos, Oobleck stepped in front to block the strikes.

"Now would be a good time to run along, children." Professor Oobleck urged in slight strain, turning his blue eyes back to the stunned huntresses watching on, "While we may be locked in combat, it is still a school night. I don't want any of you missing class due to lack of sleep. We have a test tomorrow after all!"

"Awww, I was hoping he'd forget about that." Nora pouted.

Seeing Oobleck begin batting the furious swings from Viola, Pithos ran around his colleague to draw the attention of the muscle bound man swinging his chained labrys. A wide swing from the chained ax cut through the air. Aiming his six barreled hand cannon below, he jumped over the wide swing with the powerful recoil bouncing him higher then normally. Another chained swing followed after him in the air, causing him to flip over it and fire the last two rounds of his first revolver in retaliation. The bullets struck the middle of Han's chest, lighting his body with several volts of lightning as he grunted in pain. Smoke wavered from his lightly burnt body, his eyes seething mad at the man landing back in front of him. He swung his labrys down to split him down the middle. Pithos smirked, the barrel of his hand cannon extending forward and the bottom straightening to form a baton sized club. He side stepped the chop easily, rearing his arm back before swatting Hans wrist. Adding his aura along with the attack cracked the man's wrist's as he pulled it back with a grunting shout.

Han's saw red. Damn little fly. To think it could actually hurt him with the little stick of his. Grunting, Hans spun his labrys one handed before swinging around to slice the teacher to pieces. Pithos moved around the muscle mass that was a man, evading the deadly wheel of steel flashing with the intent to dice him. He still had one last full cylinder, time to make good use of it. He continued to dodge the swings as Hans detached the ax blades by their chains for better reach, deflecting one of the blades that came close to digging at his neck. Clicking the small trigger hidden behind the main trigger, his small club morphed back to his hand cannon. He pumped it twice, ducking the wide swing in a spin to stop behind the large man's exposed back. All six barrels sparked before firing all six of its remaining bullets into Han's back. A beacon of lightning swallowed the large man, scalding his skin as his body spasmed. Kicking his foot at the back of the man's legs as the lightning died away, Professor Pithos nodded his head the four girls as Hans fell forward, opening the chamber of his gun to load two new sets of ammunition from Pandora's satchel.

"Stop gawking before I shock you like I do with Lemon Head. It's getting late, you're all lucky we don't give you all detention for staying up past your bedtimes. So hurry up and find your little girlfriends, we'll met you all soon."

Voila ground her teeth as she peeked back to the sight of her brother dropped. That was a hell of a shot to knock him down. She jumped back and danced around the homing like missiles of cold mist shot from the torch, struggling as the missed shots created spikes of ice to litter the ground. She sliced the annoying obstacles to melting bits with her heated twin swords, charging back at the green haired teacher with double stab thrust.

"No one's going anywhere! I'll be dead before I let a single one of you touch ground on the Boss's lair!"

Oobleck spun his torch against the incoming stab, slapping the attack away and delivering jab with his elbow at the now tangible woman, sending her back and out of reach of his students. Looking back at them, he wove his torch across the ground, creating a wall of solid ice to block them from the FoF gatekeepers. He nodded his head, releasing the now drained crystal as his fellow teacher fell alongside him from a hard fist courtesy of the now recovered Hans.

"You holding up alright, Doctor Pithos?" Oobleck asked in concern as the man held his stomach gingerly.

Pithos chuckled, straightening back up as he took out one of the redballs he had handed the girls, "No need for all the formalities, Bart. Call me, Hope." He grinned lazily, tossing the treat into his mouth as he watched their opponents stand together. "You think the kids got the message? I'm flattered they want to watch a couple of old men like us brawl, but they're better off finding their friends."

"I couldn't agree more! Though I would argue on use being a couple of old men. We have many bright years ahead of us!"

"Not me, if I don't listen to that annoying doctor. Apparently sugar can be lethal in high dosages."

"Maybe you could switch over to sugar free?"

"Maybe you should switch to decaf?"

". . .I see your point."

"Doesn't feel good, does it?"

Voila's twitch grew. Again, they were ignoring them! "DON'T IGNORE US, FOR FUCKS SAKE! WE'RE TRYING TO KILL YOU!"

"We know, trust me, we know." Hope sighed tiredly, synthesizing another Ice Dust for his fellow teacher.

"We are strapped for time, so why don't we cut the chit chat," Bartholomew nodded firmly, taking a sip from his torch before dropping in the chilling element to augment his weapon. He grinned as he aimed his freezing torch alongside Hope's sparking hand cannon.

"And fight."

"Couldn't have said better myself." Voila grinned as she attached her twin blades to form her claymore again.

The sound of wing howling past them in the middle of the night was all that could be heard between the two sides, their eyes locked another, their weapons ready to clash once more. Time was ticking, on both ends. Words would only be a waste at this point.

---

Holt bit back a curse, his side being struck by a heavy swing from Cardin's mace in a lapse of distraction. His eyes were still turned to the beacon of bluish light emanating from Jaune's supposed corpse. He moved back on his feet, dodging a mix of mace and knife swings courtesy of Blake and Cardin fighting alongside another. Just what kind of bullshit was he witnessing? One hated the other for killing their beloved mother, and the other hated the other for his cruel treatment of her kind! They were cat and dog, enemies since fucking birth! Yet they could fight so well together when they were moments ago in a death match? Those flashing lights from Jaune's blade must have been messing with his vision.

"Out of my sight!" Whipping Death Rattle by his side, Holt lashed out a whipping blade of flames from his cleaver's segments. The lashing blade passed by the two hunter's as they evaded the attack, ducking together to avoid the wide swing, and kicked their feet up at the flat of the passing cleaver to stumble back the sportsman hunter. The last of the energy in Cardin's Beaufort flashed brightly before its head slammed into the man's chest, erupting in cloud of flames shrouding his body. Blake crossed over her knives across her chest, throwing them apart to release a crossing blade of purple aura to cut into the black shroud of fire. Pushed out with his feet skidding across the ground, Holt glared furiously at the two, a small trickle of blood running down his lip.

He was starting to get tired of this shit.

Stabbing his cleaver into his own shadow, a pool gathered around him before splitting into smaller shadows that zipped after Cardin and Blake. The small shadows zipped around them in a frenzy, warning them of the danger hidden within as they dodged a segment of the cleaver jumping out like a snapping piranha. With the shadows gathered around them in a circle, the two hunter's were forced to dance around another to avoid the snapping blades spinning in the air to dice them to fine bits. Looked like the pieces that made up the cleaver could come apart. Nicks and tears began to cut into their skin as the blades proved to be difficult to avoid.

Cardin panted, sweat dripping down his face as he spun around Blake, moving his head away from a spinning blade segment nearly digging into his left eye. Just how the hell was the bastard capable of performing a move like this? They barely had any room to evade the blades! While his aura was beginning to run low, Cardin shut his eyes, his only functioning hand glowing with a coat of golden aura as he gathered strength for his semblance. "Duck!" He shouted loudly as he reared his mace back. Blake nodded without a thought, dropping down to her knees to avoid the mighty wide swing flying overhead. A strong gale blew out from his swing, blowing away the spinning metal teeth as they jumped out at once. They fall back to the ground, swallowed within their own shadows to return to their owner.

"Thank you for the fore warning, Cardin." Blake smiled tiredly as she got back up. A heavy thud caught her attention to see her momentary partner falling on one knee, his face scrunched up as he breathed heavily. "Cardin! Are you okay!?" she asked in worry as she tried to help him back up.

It made him laugh weakly as he felt her hands gingerly hold him. Didn't he try to kill her? Why the hell would she be worrying about an idiot who fell for his own anger and hate? Stupid Faunas.

"I'm fine, just a little sore, everywhere." He scoffed, hiding the small smile making its way to his face.

"That I can understand." Blake smiled softly.

"Aww, how fucking cute. I think my teeth are rotting at the sight."

Cardin and Blake's eyes snapped open in horror, the deep chuckling ticking the back of their necks making them turn their eyes around to see the fanged edge of Death Rattle swing up in an uppercut. The blow missed Blake, its deadly intent focused on the broken armed huntsman. Cardin shouted in pain as he was sent flying far away, slamming into the end of the coliseum walls where he fell to his stomach. A gash burned through his armor, preventing him from doing anymore then lifting his head up to watch Holt grabbed Blake by the throat. "L-Let her go!" He roared angrily, wincing as his new wound burned hotly.

"I seriously don't understand you people at all." Holt shook his head in slight disbelief, adding more pressure to the cat girl's windpipe. "You switch beliefs so quickly, it's baffling! You hate her kind for all the savage, blood spilling deeds, that they've done! Costing you your own mother and sister in the process!" He aimed his cleaver at the down huntsman in a roar, narrowing his eyes as he moved its heated flat point under Blake's chin as she struggled to breath in his hands, "And you hate his kind for mistreating your people, refusing service, aid, work, and basically working them as fucking slaves! Yet you would both drop your solid beliefs at the drop of a hat! You go against both human and faunas nature. You should have killed another by now! But instead, I'm forced to watch this TV melo-fucking-drama! Well, guess what!?" He grinned cruelly, his eye twitching slightly as he pressed the heated flat deeper into the girl's skin, her cries of pain music to his ear, "I'm done stalling what needs to be done! Forget saving your annoying little soul, I'm slaughtering you like the disgusting animal you are! THIS CRAP ENDS NOW!" he yelled loudly with a laugh.

"NOOO!" Cardin shouted. He tried getting back up, only to fall back down, scrapping his chin. He looked on helplessly as he watched the man he had come to see as a friend raise his cleaver high in the air, intent on executing Blake with the burning edge coiling to form a hook like blade.

"MET THE FATE OF ANIMALS! DIE!"

"Lumen Hysteria."

From the beacon of light, machine gun like fire of knives shot out, cutting through the air as they aimed for the stunned dirty blonde. Each small knife was made out of bluish light, striking Holt with the force of shotgun shells. The force of each blade picked him off his feet, slamming him towards the end of the coliseum in the same style he had sent Cardin. The cascade of knives soon came to a stop, dropping him onto his knee's as he gasped deeply from the pain.

The fuck was that!?

Tiny dots aligned the beacon, carving the picture of swords forming the beacon before flashing brightly. The light swords shattered, falling to the ground in twinkles of glimmering light around the now healed blonde knight standing beside a shocked Velvet. The bunny girl was at complete loss at what she was seeing, not believing her eyes at the new attire her friend was now dressed in.

It looked like her combat gear.

Opening his eyes, Jaune gazed at his new wardrobe in fascination. He now wore an open zipped brown long sleeved jacket with gold trimmings, a black cotton undershirt, brown pants, and brown shoes with golden buckles and bands. The golden bands encircled his waist and the bottom of his pants, golden spaulders were attached to his shoulders along with gold vambraces. A brown hood lined with gold came along with the jacket and Velvet's symbol was stitched onto his back in a family crest. The only thing left of his old attire were his brown gloves, changed slightly by the gold rings on each knuckle.

'Unlimited Light Works, Activated! +13,500EXP! You're level has risen by 1! You've learned Ember!'

'This is ULW?' Jaune thought in amazement. The power granted by a special bond formed with Velvet? Holy crap! The power flowing through his body was incredible! It was a rush of energy!

'Congratulations on Unlocking ULW, Unlimited Light Works! The power of light is now under your domain of control! You've unlocked an Affinity, Light!' Time around Jaune froze still for a moment, allowing the The Game to display the workings of his new power, 'Soul Link is an incredible power bestowed onto The Heart from a bond held closely by two hearts. It allows The Player to gain new abilities and skills tied to the heart of the Soul they're linked to, unique in their own way. While in Unlimited Light Works, certain abilities will be switched out and attacks will change to better suit the new powers at your disposal. In this new form, your physical attacks have been transformed into magical attacks and your MP is greatly increased, allowing you to spam spells with no worry! Wisdom, Intelligence, and Speed is greatly increased, but Attack, Defense and Luck fall while in ULW form. You've also been granted the following Abilities and Skills while in ULW.'

'Abilities: Gather, Lumen Flare, Lumen Hysteria, and Lumen Fall. Skills: Light Step, MP Overdrive, and Lucky Foot.'

Jaune stared blankly at all the benefits now at his disposal, withholding the urge to squeal in a moment of glee. Soul Link was incredible! Reading over the new moves and skills he was going to be using, he frowned a bit as he noticed a small bar circling his portrait on his HUD, another smaller portrait connected to it with Velvet's symbol pulsing. Looked like he couldn't take his time with Unlimited Light Works, must be limited by the amount in its bar. The second the world unpaused he would be running on the clock. He couldn't waste his time now.

A second chance had been given to him, to continue living in this world with his friends, new and old. He'd be damned if he didn't make good use of his second chance, even when there were many at his disposal with his status as Gamer. The others may live life as if it was a game, but it didn't matter if he could just respawn and start over again, the lives around him, his own life, were a precious thing that weren't meant to be taken lightly. His blue eyes looked firmly at the form of Holt staring back at him in his suspended state of animation, brought to his knees as he held his chest with an infuriated look in his eyes. This power, with this power he could win, maybe even prove to Ren he could stand against the forces The Game would throw at him.

And it was all because of his bond with Velvet. He looked back to the brunette girl with bunny ears, smiling sadly at her state. She was dirty, bruised, and her eyes were red from crying. But looking closely at her face, he could make out the slight lift of her lips. It was because of her that he was even breathing. No, he shook his head as turned his sights to Cardin and Blake, both equally hurt and exhausted from the hell wrought by Holt's ideals. They were all the reasons he was breathing and fighting again.

Sensing his urge to fight again and exit the pause, The Game messaged him his final instructions for his power for the moment.

'To cancel the pause, and activate your Soul Link in the future, all you have to do is recite the Soul Link's Activation Oath. ULW Activation Oath-

Jaune nodded his head with a grin, flexing the muscle of his fingers as he readied himself for the final battle of the day.

"By the Light born by our Bond, I call on upon the sword shining the proof of our Link, Shedding away the darkness clasping our Souls-" Jaune recited to himself, clapping his hands together in a prayer as the world began to move again. His blue eyes shined brightly as he parted his hand, stretching out a copy of Crocea Mor's sword made out of bluish light.

"Unlimited Light Works!"

The shards of twinkling light paused before flying towards the newly attired blonde knight. They spun around his body, flashing with the image of swords in the light.

"Jaune?" Velvet sniffed as she looked at Jaune in confusion. What happened to him? The energy flowing from his body was unlike anything she had ever seen. And it looked like he was wearing a male version of her combat gear. Was this his semblance?

Jaune turned back to her, grinning as he rubbed the back of his head with a blush.

"Thanks, Velvet. I'm pretty sure I'd be dead if you hadn't. . .you know?" Jaune smiled awkwardly, recalling the intimate way she had revived him from deaths doors.

Velvet's face lite up with a cherry red blush. She could still feel his lips over her own. If Coco ever found out about this, she wasn't sure she'd live it down. Kissing a first year, her leader would tease her relentlessly despite the situation. Still, she smiled happily as she watched Jaune scratch his equally blushing cheek nervously, it was more then worth it. Maybe next time she'd actually have a chance to enjoy it. At the thought she smacked her own head, shaking away such thoughts. Great, she kisses one boy in a life saving effort, and now she's fantasizing on kissing him without the taste of blood. Coco would definitely have a field day with this.

"Just. . .don't nearly die on me again." Velvet smiled with a tilt of her head, "Okay?"

That he could do. Nodding his head, Jaune went back to turn his eyes to Blake and Cardin. Moving one foot forward his body vanished from sight as he called on Gale Speed. A bluish blur picked up both wounded teens before Holt could move a muscle, dropping them beside Velvet as he appeared again like he never left.

The Game was not kidding, his Speed had vastly improved! Sweet.

"You alright, Cardin?" Jaune asked as he eyed Cardin's broken arm with worry. How the hell was he able to fend off Holt with his lesser hand? That took skill.

Cardin scoffed, hiding his disbelief at the new form his schoolmate had taken. Damn show off, "Don't look down on me, Jauney-Boy. A Huntsman like myself won't be taken down by a little sprain like this. It's Catgirl you should be looking over." He gestured his head over to Blake.

Said girl weakly glared at Cardin at the attention now pointed at her under Jaune's worried gaze, "I'm fine, just a little scratched up." She tried to play off with a smile, only to wince as her ribs ached and the new burn gash under her chin to beginning to act up.

Jaune sighed. Blake never did like attention. She always hid her problems from her friends, even when she was dead on her feet. Reminded him of himself. Two of a kind. Made him grin softly at her as he helped her up.

"It's alright, you just need some rest is all." He chuckled lightly as he rubbed her head, careful not to mess with her cute ears. This was as close to them he had ever gotten. They really were cute.

A grumpy pout met his touch, a light blush staining her cheeks at the blonde dork leader that was Jaune. Since when was he this confident? And touchy. It did feel regretfully nice though. Damn feline genes.

"You've all done more then enough here though." Jaune said firmly, turning away to glare at Holt's mad grin as he gripped his cleaver tightly, "Find the exit and get out of here. There's still one more person I need to save before I can follow you guys. And that won't be possible until I stop Holt here and now." Ann was trapped here. And the man who had taken her in would never let her free of his shadow. The nightmares created by Trail by Fire would never end till the madman was trapped behind a high security cell.

"Save? You were on your last breath! It's smarter to fight together then alone." Cardin argued, flinching as he tried moving his mace up in a stance.

"You're all too hurt to go on any further. Besides, I'm the only one of us who's got any chance of winning right now. Don't worry," Jaune grinned reassuringly as he began walking to the middle of the ring to met Holt head on again.

"You won't be seeing me in such a state again. I promise."

"Listen to the dead man, kiddies." Holt grinned savagely, his brow twitching madly as he aimed his blade for his fellow blonde, the fanged teeth glowing a bright orange, "This here is your only chance at escaping my wrath for a few moments. Once I'm done with this piece of soon to be charred meat, I'll be sure to treat you all the same kindly. So, I would take it if I where you."

Blake and Cardin moved to argue, only for Velvet's arms to pull them back. She shook her head firmly at their bewildered gazes. She didn't want to admit it and leave Jaune to fight, but he was right. They were far too injured to be of any help to him. And it looked like he was back at full strength by the looks of it. All they could do is believe in him.

"He's right. We would only get in his way and worry him. It be better to find help. I'm sure he's got a handle of things now." She said brightly as she began to lead her younger classmates to the gate entrance.

Cardin wanted to put up a fight, but held back as he looked back to Jaune' straightened back, his body flowing with a strength he couldn't understand nor comprehend.

Hero. His mother had always read to him stories of heroes and how their turned backs would inspire others and set their hearts at ease. To always trust the back of heroes to save the day. A knight in shining armor. The kind he had dreamed to become long ago.

Just once, just once he would trust in that image again. The one he had abandoned in his hate and growing anger. 'Don't think this makes you better then me, Jaune.' Cardin frowned as he followed after Velvet out the massive gate.

'Next time, it'll my back you're putting faith into. You're not the only one who'll become a hero someday.'

Blake was the last one to leave the coliseum, stopping in her steps as she turned back to Jaune. She didn't want to leave him all alone, to fight a man who frightened her to her core. There were too many questions she wanted to ask. How did he know she was a faunus? How did he wind up down here? And how did he know about her once being apart of the White Fang? She didn't want to worry over his life again, to see his mangled body at deaths door.

Jaune was her friend. And she only just now understood that.

"Have some faith in me, Blake." Jaune said back to her. Even without seeing his face, she could tell he was smiling at her.

"We're fellow Book Lover's after all, even if comic books aren't technically books. So, have some faith in your friend."

Tears ran down Blake's cheek, confusing the cat girl greatly as his words resonated with her soul for some weird reason. It filled her with relief and reassurance. From the depths of her being, she trusted him.

Wiping the tears away, Blake nodded at the back of the goofy knight, placing all of her trust into the image she was leaving behind.

"Just come back to us alive, okay?" Blake smiled softly before running for the gate, not waiting to hear his response as the gate fell to seal their way back in.

Seeing his stupid grin would be all the answer she would need.

Now that the distractions where out of the way, Holt focused his mad eyes back to the somehow wound free boy in front of him. He always hated the stubborn types who refused to die.

"I'm sure nothing else needs to be said at this point, boy." Holt said flatly. Words were beginning to bore him. Not to mention he still had things to do. He had a leader of a terrorist organization to kill.

"Nothing that will stop this peacefully." Jaune agreed.

"Your way to peace sounds boring, I'm much more in favor for the one where your blood is staining my coat and out of Ann's future."

"And I prefer the one where you're locked away and out of Ann's future."

"Cheeky little brat. Then what are we waiting for? Let's finish this once and for all already!" Holt roared as he swung his cleaver for a heated slash of steel.

'Holt Delmos, Shadow of Anubis, Scale of Souls, 18,139HP/23,000HP.' Jaune grit his teeth as he swung his shield arm for the attack. A light copy of Crocea Mors shield sprang up to block the slash by a twinkle of light gathered around him. The magical shield was durable enough to stop the attack in its place. Looked like Blake and Cardin had done just about the same damage he had when he had tried his best along with the damage done with Lumen Hysteria. That was good, he needed some headway. The shield wavered, alerting him to drop his guard and move away. Whatever weapons he created with his light wouldn't last very long. Each one had to count.

Throwing out his hand, he called on a light sword to materialize in his grip, releasing his shield to met Death Rattle's blade with his own. He swung the large cleaver back, stumbling Holt with the action and allowing him to attack with one of his newer abilities, "Lumen Flare!" Another magical sword appeared in his hand, bursting into bluish flames before blasting Holt back like a ram.

Holt grunted as the light flames crawled around his coat, the attack actually stinging against his open skin. That was new and annoying. "Got some new tricks, huh?!" Holt grinned, spinning his cleaver around before whipping several flaming blades after Jaune.

"Reflect!" Raising his hand high above, Jaune summoned the pixel mirror dome to guard against the lashing blades. Unlike every other time he had use this spell, Reflect's range had grown by double its size, sending the attacks bouncing back in several directions with an amped boost. Dust clouds blew up around the spectator seats above them, tossing debris onto the coliseum. Seeing a few come his way, Holt batted the flat side of his blade at the rubble, blasting them like burning bullets. They streaked through the air, intent on hitting their mark.

Two swords materialized in Jaune's hands just as the burning rubble flew within reach. With little experience in dual wielding, he was still capable of dicing the projectiles to harmless scrap. The added boost in Speed really came in handy to make up for his lack of skill in the art.

Falling into his own shadow, Holt streaked after the blonde, raising his blade from his shadow like a shark's fin. It extended upward, angling itself to stab Jaune like a diving snake. Jaune easily dodged the stretching blade, his new skill giving him light feet to move swiftly on the go. Again and again Death Rattle angled after him, showing off its long reach with no end in sight. He knew this trick though, he wasn't falling for it again.

His eye's peeked back behind, the silhouette springing up not his own. "Power Strike!" Instead of Crocea Mor's copy delivering the heavy hit, Beaufort, Cardin's own mace, struck in its place. The mace of magical energy slammed into Holt, the man having thrown his arms up on reflex in time to guard his chest. He grit his teeth openly at the new power slamming into him. Where the hell was the kid hiding something like this? And why hadn't he busted it out earlier? Jumping back, he began to counter the swift swings from the boy's odd sword of light, the mace vanishing into nothing. One of his counter swings missed, leaving him open for the bright edge slashing across his chest. His brown eye's widened in shock, watching as the blade cut though the tough material of his battle coat and lacerated the skin of his chest. Blood ran down, the sight only infuriating further.

The fuck was going on?! Moments ago the boy had been nothing! Nothing but a rag doll for his amusement to smack around! His blade was too dull to scratch him, how was it that he was now capable of cutting him?

Jaune smirked at the sight. He was running on the clock, the meter bar signaling the length of ULW was at one-forth of its limit. If he was able to spam his attacks till then, then now was the time. Who was he to play fair when up against a Boss? Swinging his open hand at the bleeding dirty blonde, Jaune called upon the lights gathered around him to float above Holt, "Lumen Fall!" He shouted loudly. The lights transformed into rapiers similar to Weiss's weapon, raining down upon Holt like stars. Holt fought back a curse as he began to evade the falling thin blades. Each one created a small crater with their impact, no way was he getting hit by one of those!

Having had enough, Holt raised Death Rattle above his head, swinging it around to spread its segments for a farther range. He created a strong gale around him, forming a mini tornado and trapping the light blades in the spiraling wind. Each one was tangible, so why not send them back to their owner? He struck them back to Jaune, firing them like bullets. Jaune dashed out of the way, running to escape his own blades as they blew up against the walls around them.

"Where you running, boy?!" Holt laughed as he ceased his swinging. The segments of his cleaver stretched, slanting to form a hook like blade with fanged edges. Disappearing into his shadow, he jumped out of Jaune's own, swinging for his head with a wild grin. Jaune spun around, locking his sword with Holt. He sidestepped a downward chop, swatting a swipe for his side, spun his sword around to deflect three rapid swings before it lost its form, and created a shield to block the next rapid strikes. The shield didn't last long, vanishing to leave him to suffer a downward slash that tore up the side of chest, spilling his blood onto the ground.

'Jaune Arc, 4,708HP/5,400HP.' Jaune gasped as he held his wound, calling on another sword to deflect Holt's next swing. Guess his Defense really did take hit in exchange for his new powers. That would have to do though. His MP was still fine at the moment and he still had enough time to dish out enough damage to last. Breaking away from his clash with Holt, he aimed the sword back at him to transform it into another blast of flames. The leader of the Friends of Faunas easily dodged it, dashing in for a spinning slash.

Each weapon created from his lights weren't capable of lasting long, but he had a way to fix that.

"Gather!" Several lights gathered into Jaune's hand, weaving together a stronger sword at his disposal. He spun on his feet, matching Holt's attack head on. They blocked each others slash, glaring at another as they gripped their blades tighter at the sound of their attacks clanging before slashing at another in rapid strikes, spilling their blood behind them. Taking a deep breath, Jaune spun his sword around his hand, his image blurring as several after images appeared around Holt in the air, swinging different types of blades at him, "Hyper Blade!"

Holt danced on his feet, slashing at every copy rushing in at him one at a time. His cleaver tore them apart, easily killing every fake Jaune. Finishing the last of them, he jumped high into the air, somersaulting in the air as he spun his chain cleaver around himself to turn into a far reaching saw of heated steel. The human saw descended onto Jaune, clashing with his Reflect spell as it struggled to break it apart. He was bounced back into the air, his spin broken until he attempted it again with a frustrated growl. Again and again he spun into his magical defense, cracking it further with each try. Sweat fell down his face as he was sent back. "Enough with these fucking games!" He roared, rearing Death Rattle to his side, igniting its fang to flare with fire. He spun around his waist, whipping his chain cleaver to slam the side of Jaune's mirror dome. It shattered to pieces, not stopping in its momentum as its fang dug into Jaune's side, burning his sides and sizzling the blood running down. He could swear one of the fangs scratched one of his ribs!

Agony, the pain was agonizing. Gritting his teeth, Jaune dug out the blade, his blood splatting onto the ground. Holt reared his cleaver back, smirking openly as his shadow enlarged. He stabbed Death Rattle into the puddle of darkness, sending the little pools splitting from below after Jaune. Jumping segments of his cleaver snapped out from the shadows, threatening to butcher him in a blender of spinning blades. "Reflect!" The blades were useless, thrown back from the magical shield. They fell back to their shadows, returning back to Holt as he ripped his cleaver out with a snarl on his face.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" He roared as he dived into his shadow. He appeared behind Jaune as Reflect died, swinging his cleaver to chop him from the waist up. Jaune summoned a shield to block, only for the force of Holt's swing to send him flying into the seats above. He crashed in cloud of rubble falling around him, coughing as he cleared it away to see Holt swinging his chain around him. Gathering enough momentum, he swung the tearing chain after him, cutting apart the area around them as the heated steel madly tore at everything in sight. Another Reflect bounced the attack back, protecting him once again from within. Holt flipped in the air, recalling his chain before swinging down with both hands gripping his cleaver. A rush of air blew back against him as he slammed his cleaver into the glass like dome, standing his ground to shatter the annoying trick. His eyes were wide, a feral grin appearing on his face as cracks spread across the dome from the point of impact.

Jaune swung two swords against Death Rattle as it shattered Reflect, locking blades as he fought against the incredible strength behind the weapon. His knee's buckled, the force hitting his body breaking apart the seats near him to rubble.

"Despite all the fancy tricks under your sleeve you lack the experience and strength to wield it right!" Holt grinned in Jaune's face. He increased the pressure to weapon, cracking the ground under their feet as Jaune flinched. "Just give up already! I've told you before, a boy such as you can never hope to defeat me, and my ideals! What I fight for can't be beaten by a boy who doesn't even have the balls to dirty his own hands for the better! So, stop fighting!" His body was enveloped with an aura of wavering shadows, his eyes growing red as his teeth seemed to sharpen like a wild animals maw.

"DIE A WASTE OF SPACE AND TIME!"

"NOT HAPPENING!" Jaune yelled back, his body gathering light as the swords in his hands faded away. "LUMEN HYSTERIA!" Dozens after dozens of bluish knives rapidly fired into Holt, slamming into the flat of Death Rattle as he thought quickly. The force of the impacts slowly pushed him away as he tried to stand against the machine gun like fire, his feet skidding against the ground.

"Your way of thinking will only cause more pain and suffering then good! The world will never accept your twisted ideals like this! People aren't desperate enough to accept such a weak and easy solution, they're better then that! I've seen it!" Memories of his first life came to mind, the trouble with Blake and the White Fang, Weiss's acceptance of her friend's past, and the bond born from it. If there were people who treated the faunus unfairly, that didn't mean they represented humanity as a whole. Just like a few bad faunus didn't represent them all as a whole either. Jaune was hardly someone to come to for solutions to such a complex problem as equality and that was only because his answer was to simply accept others for what they were.

His blue eyes glared back Holt's brown eyes, both unwilling to back down from their own beliefs. That was life though, beliefs and ideals constantly hammering another. So that they could be accepted.

"You fight for the world? WELL MY FRIENDS ARE MY WORLD! AND I'M APART OF THEIRS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL A PIECE I MAY BE!" Jaune roared with all his being, his determination clear in his voice. A great sword formed in front of him, its point twinkling before it fired along with the small blades into Holt's guard. It broke his hold on Death Rattle, sending him falling back. Jaune raised his hand above his head, gathering light to float above the Boss, "AND I WON'T DIE TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF FRIENDS! LUMEN FALL!" A curtain of rapiers crashed upon Holt, breaking against his aura yet damaging him with every magical blade.

'This brat. . .he's actually hurting ME? The hell is happening?! He should be dead on his feet!' Each rapier him him with the force of a hammer, the pain actually clouding his thoughts for a moment. His fingers dug into the ground, his face livid as his body was being rattled around by the bombardment.

He was close, so close! He would not fall here to some boy not even half his age! The shadows underneath him dragged him in, saving him from the onslaught of magic blades as it snaked to Jaune's shadow. He dove out with a stab underneath him, missing as Jaune sidestepped at the last moment. Faster then Jaune could react, Holt slid his magnum out of his sleeve, emptying ever bullet in its cartridge into the boy. Three of the bullets hit their mark, piercing Jaune's body and exiting the back of his hoodie. Jaune gasped as he held the bullets wounds, nearly dropping to his knee's as the blood seeped through his fingers. Potions wouldn't save him now, he was completely dry. His HP was edging to the red, he couldn't afford to take more attacks like that.

Holt scoffed as he tossed away the empty gun, dragging the flat point of Death Rattle against the ground, "Friends do what's best for their friends. And as a faunus free of the stigma plaguing my people, I know that this is the right move. A human like yourself will never understand." He said tiredly.

Faunus? He was a faunus? Well that explained the sharp claws and teeth. But despite the shock of what he was doing to his own people, Jaune would give him no sympathy. What did it matter if he was human? It had nothing to do with him not understanding his logic.

"I may be human, but that doesn't mean I won't ever understand you. I've been ridiculed, looked down on, seen as lesser and undependable, because of my weakness. My weakness is my stigmata. A loser like me knows your pain to change and fit in with others." Jaune smiled tiredly, "But my friends still stand by me because of it, and I'm slowly growing stronger because of them. Faunus are no different, there will be people who will accept them, love them, and save them for who they are, not because of some dumb stigmata. And together, they'll grow stronger against the hate aimed at them. Because friends accept you for who you are, and that's something you just don't understand."

"Don't understand? It's you who doesn't understand!" Holt was fed up with this crap. He just wanted to kill the boy and be done with it already! Why couldn't he see words were wasted on him? Muscles clenching, Holt swung with all his might a left swing into Jaune's side, grinning as the blonde knight failed to evade with his wounds stopping him. This was it!

His eyes went wide in shock a second later as he watched his cleaver bounce back by some unseen force against Jaune's aura, sweating as not a drop of blood fell.

Lucky Foot, a skill that was based on Luck. It had the power to render random attacks null no matter how devastating or deadly they were. A life saver in long battles. And it was working its magic despite Jaune's low Luck stat.

Unfortunately, Unlimited Light Works decided to give out then and there just as Jaune retaliated with a swing of his magical sword. The blade vanished just as its point slashed across Holt's chest, ripping his coat open and opening a gash.

'Holt Delmos, 9,790HP/24,000HP.'

'Jaune Arc, 2,078HP/5,400HP.'

"ENOOOOOOGGGHHH!" Holt bellowed, the sheer volume smacking against Jaune like some invisible wall of pressure. He panted, gripping his new wound as his fingers were stained by his own blood flowing through. Bruises could be seen around the skin of his chest, little nicks cut open by the many knives that have hit him and the sleeves of his coat were ripped apart after guarding against his Power Strike. It had been a long time since someone had been capable of damaging him so, the feeling was maddening. Feeling so tired and hurt after fighting some kid who hadn't even graduated from school, it shouldn't have been possible with his skills and experience. How the hell could some brat's weak willed blade cut him?!

Didn't matter, he snarled as he raised Death Rattle high into the air, coating it with his aura to amplify the strike. Whatever power the boy had been using had faded away, leaving him as powerless as when he had been throwing him around like a rag doll. Nothing would stop him from finally finishing the job!

'I'm not going to survive an attack like that with what little health I have left. I need to stop that damn cleaver of his before he cuts me in half!' Jaune thought in desperation, cursing as he noticed he no longer had a weapon to fight with in his regular form. Crocea Mors sword had been left in the small arena bellow and his knife had been lost as he was being crashed through whatever was in sight. All he had left were his fists. Time to see if he could discover something useful with what he had left.

"Power Strike+Smash Guard!" Rearing his right fist back, a yellow glow ignited it, forming an odd gauntlet of gold with an iron knuckle around his fist and three steel prongs running along his arm. Seeing the new attack coming at him, Holt swung the flat of Death Rattle in front of him, digging its flat point into the ground to block the giant illusion like knuckle.

'Critical Hit! Shatter Armament, Discovered!' +1,000EXP!

Immense pain stabbed into Jaune's arm courtesy of the steel prongs stabbing through his skin and ramming into the bones of said arm, breaking the bone as his fists did the same to Death Rattle. He ground his teeth as his eyes flew open at the feeling of his arm breaking, watching as Holt was left in shock as his cleaver's bladed segments flew past him, leaving him defenseless as Jaune's fist dug into his gut like a firing piston. Blood flew out of his mouth as he struggled to stand his ground, only to be pushed back a few spaces holding his heavily bruised gut. It felt like he nearly been run through.

Regret, so much regret! Jaune swallowed a cry, his eyes tearing up as he tightly gripped his now limp right arm, trailing with blood from the gaping holes created from his new Ability. What was it called, the Humerus bone? Yup, that thing was shattered. Sad to say a whimper escaped his lips as he tried to raise it up, the pain being too much for him to handle. Well, he tried to grin as he eyed the shards left by Death Rattle laying around Holt, he wouldn't have to worry about fighting him with such a wild weapon.

He wasn't better off himself though. Fighting with his fists wasn't his specialty, let alone fighting with only one.

Holt was at loss of words. His prized weapon was broken into pieces by one attack. One that had robbed him of his own breath. He struggled to breath, coughing up a wad of saliva and blood onto the ground as he glared tiredly at Jaune. Looked like the boy was in no better shape, whatever he had done to break his weapon had cost him his arm. At least some good came out of it.

"What now, boy?" Holt chuckled in a rasp, "We both know you don't have the drive to finish me off."

"I told you, I'm not going to kill you! You'll have to settle for being beaten senseless. I'm not a killer like you!"

"And who said you had a choice in the matter? Only one of us is walking out of here alive, and I'm more then happy with dropping your corpse at the drop of a hat." Grunting as he left his aura to heal his wounds, Holt picked up two sharp pieces of his ruined cleaver, tossing one of them back at the blonde knight. Catching the blade piece with his left hand, Jaune looked at it with confusion, gritting his teeth as he watched Holt wield his own piece like a knife.

"If you wish to 'save' Annabel, if you wish to save your friends, and if you wish to stop me from humanizing the faunus in this city, then you'll grow a pair and dig your blade through my beating heart!"

"Then prepare to be disappointed. Because I'm not crossing that line!"

Silence filled the air, both hunter's taking a moment to catch their breaths as they gripped their small weapons with the last of their strength. They were beaten and bleeding, each left with nothing to fight with but metal scrap. For so long they had been fighting, dragging it on to the night as the chaos that had once been plaguing Vale had begun to fall silent. So many battles unknown to either one had come to their end, leaving the only ones still fighting being the two blondes. And the fighting wouldn't end till one either surrendered, or perished to the others blade.

It all lead up to this. Ideals of black and white clashing for a final bout. No force on this world could stop such a fight at its final moments.

"STOP!"

Well, nothing but the voice of a woman.

Just before Jaune and Holt could dash toward another to swing their makeshift knives, a familiar shout broke them out of their attacks, stopping them before they could make one step. Blue hair matted to the sweaty face of Ann met their gaze, gasping for breath from the massive gate closing behind her. They stared at her in, surprised to see her.

"Ann? What the hell are you doing out of my quarters?" Passing his shock, Holt growled at his little assistant, not happy to see her at the moment. Everything was kinda going to shit right now, having her in the middle of his fight with the blonde brat only made things worse.

A smile lite up Jaune's face at the sight of his friend, "Ann! Thank god, you're safe!" he frowned a second later, shaking his head as he turned back to Holt, "But you have to get out of here. If you stay then the Vale City Police will lump you in with the FoF! Run out of here while you still can, I'm sure you'll meet up with friends and if you explain to them the situation, they'll protect you until I get up there."

"And who says I'll allow that? Ann belongs to the Friends of Faunus, with her family. As if I'm going to sit back and watch her ruin her future because of some boy. She's staying here, with me!"

"If anyone is ruining her future, it's you! Ann has a right to leave this all behind her and start a new life! If you truly gave a damn about her, then you'd leave her out of your mess!"

"The only mess I see is the bloody corpse that will be your body!"

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!"

Ann steadied her breathing as she ignored her aching head to glare at both blondes staring back at her. Damn idiots, they never knew when to keep their mouths shut. They looked a mess. Had to give it to Blondie, she was surprised to see Holt bleeding and bruised, she wasn't sure she had ever seen him like that in her entire life. She did frown at the sight of his broken arm. Jaune wasn't any better off himself, it looked like he was ready to collapse. Was that a scar on his forehead?

"You idiots have no say in what I do. As far as I care, this craps gone on long enough. If you haven't noticed, boss, your plans have gone to shit. If Blondie's been working for the police then they already know our location and are on their way here. And Cross hasn't been responding to any of my attempts to contact him. You know how he never ignores one of our calls." Cross wasn't one to ignore any of their calls, the man was always quick to answer. Which meant that the worst must have befallen him. Someone must have been capable of taking him down while he was out sniping targets. The thought of the mechanical like man falling in battle actually stung. Despite everything, Cross had become like family, just like everyone else. It was only until her fight with Jaune that her eyes had been cracked open.

She looked sadly at her employer, a man who's ideals were twisted to all who hadn't fallen to his charismatic aura and words, who had taken her in like she was his own daughter instead of some filthy street rat, "Holt, no one above has been responding to any of my attempts to reach them, not even Naragami. Only two of our men have even contacted me since you don't have your communicator on ya, and that was to warn me of a group of hunters making their way here. Face it, your plans are falling all around you. There's nothing left to fight for." she sighed in defeat.

"Nothing left to fight for? What kind of garbage are you talking about, Ann? As long as I still breath, as long as I can still fight, as long as my will continues to rage, then my plans are far from over with!" Holt roared, turning away from Jaune to met Ann's eyes with his own.

"The Faunus will be saved from humanities cruel judgment! Even if the entire world of Remnant fails to see the good I do for them, I will not be dissuaded from my path. For it's the only way we can all live with another peacefully, we must change ourselves to fit their image of normalcy or continue being seen as nothing more then filthy animals!"

"Holt. . ." Ann didn't know what to say in the face of her boss's words or the face he was making. He was determined, nothing would stop him from the path he had started on so long ago. Reason would no longer reach him.

"You still don't get it, do you?"

Brown eyes gazed back at Jaune. The blonde knight's body was trembling, his broken arm making it difficult to concentrate on anything else but the pain. But he powered through with whatever adrenaline remained in his body. Face covered in dirty and dried blood, Jaune met Holt's angered gaze with a look of pity.

"Being different is not a bad thing. We're all different in some way. But that shouldn't be any reason we have to change ourselves to be accepted. If people can't accept you for what or who you are, then they can't be called your friends. But the ones who do accept you, animal ears, weakness, class and all, they're the ones you can look to stay by your side. And maybe, one day, those who don't accept you will come to see you as a friend too. Nothing is ever easy." Jaune grinned brightly, dropping the weapon in his hand to the ground. He raised his only working arm up, balling his fist into a stance Yang had taught him weeks ago.

"Being normal is overrated anyway. If a dork like me can find friends and be accepted by both humans and faunus, then why can't we all?"

"It's you can't understand, Jaune." Holt shook his head somberly, tossing off his tattered coat to the ground to reveal the blood dyed white shirt underneath. His body was aching with pain and sore muscles. Looked like whatever little boost that tasty drink had given him had worn off like coffee, leaving him on the verge of crashing. But he was still more then fit to fight a weak minded boy.

"You give humanity and the faunus too much credit. As long as we all have different ideals, we can never get along. We must accept the stronger and more populated sides ways to live with them. It's the only way."

"We don't have to do this, boss." Ann tried to reason, taking a step forward, "We can just escape and start over. I have more then enough funds for us to live on the lamb until this all blows over. Please," she pleaded, her eyes growing soft as she reached out for the man who had become like a father to her, "No one else has to die for your beliefs."

Holt sighed, turning his head back to his beloved blue haired assistant, "Ann-"

"You know, he's right. Humans and faunus will never get along with another."

Blood splattered onto the ground, a deadly single edged straight sword piercing the side of Ann's waist from behind, its blood red blade glowing with ill intent. Ann's face was frozen in shock, her eyes trembling as blood began to trickl down her chin.

"ANN!" Jaune and Holt both yelled in horror as they dropped their stances. They rushed for the girl, reaching their hands out for her as her attacker kicked her body forward to slip his chokuto out. From the shadows of the gate, a Grimm mask caught Holt's attention, immediately putting him on edge. A snarl made its way to his lips as he dashed forward in a burst of speed, leaving Jaune to catch Ann as he channeled his aura into his crappy blade. A blade of black purple stretched the pathetic scrap to swords length, allowing him to swing it after the dead man's head.

Adam smirked as he locked blades with the leader of the Friends of Faunus, easily holding the dirty blonde back. So, this was the leader of the annoying little group of humanizers? What a disappointing sight to behold. Scanning his body, he was actually surprised to see the Boss with his health so low. Looked like someone else had already gotten to him. But who? Ren was done playing against The Game, and his so called 'business associate' hired by Cinder didn't feel like dirtying his hands. That was the old man for you.

"You filthy sack of pig shit!" Holt roared furiously, his face livid with anger as he pressed on his attack. A heavy pressured force fell upon Adam, cracking the ground underneath him. He paid it no mind though, his brows quirking at the man fighting his blade.

"Interesting. Despite how damaged you are, you still have the will to fight. Can't say the same for that cyborg of yours." he grinned darkly, his words only causing Holt's rage to grow, "Naragami, was it? I must thank you for taking care of my old friend for me. I would have thought dicing up his arms to appetizer cubes would prevent him from fighting again, but you've made it so that he actually posed a fun challenge. Too bad he didn't last long once I became serious."

Words couldn't describe the fury taking over Holt. He was seeing burning red. "Y-You. . .BASTARD!"

The pressure increased, distorting the air around them as Holt's shadow grew to swallow Adam's. Black wisps began to trail up from the massive shadow, gulping the random debris nearing them. The redhead faunus could feel his aura fighting off some unknown force trying to crush his body like a tin can. Three large flat shadows shaped like hands began to slowly wrap around them, intent on swallowing them both in nothing but darkness.

"I take it you're trying to perform some special attack to kill me off? Not a good idea with how low your aura is. Leaves you wide open." Adam scoffed. His free hand glowed red before he slammed it into Holt's already wounded gut. 'Critical Hit!' He followed after Holt's body sent flying from the Power Strike with his chokuto trailing against the ground, its point igniting a spark of flames to run along it.

Biting back a bile of blood from leaving his lips from the intense blow to his internal organs, Holt skidded to a stop, calling on his shadow to snake around his hands. Midnight claws created by his aura and semblance weaving together met Adam's swift slash to his chest. The flames of Adam's attack proved to be more then show, eating away at his semblance and burning his hands. He kicked the bull faunus back, ready to dive into his shadow for a sneak attack.

"De-Gift."

A thin golden blade of energy cut right though Holt before he could escape with his semblance, harmlessly passing him by as it died away. The shadow underneath the dirty blonde's feet wilted suddenly, losing its wild form and leaving behind his own silhouette behind him. Panic filled Holt's mind as he stumbled back as his semblance failed him. His eyes went wide, watching as Adam straightened his body, aiming his chokuto at him in a stance as a red aura coated his body.

"Bull Point."

Jaune could only watch helplessly as Holt was sent crashing through the end of the coliseum wall by an unseen force drilling into him by a single thrust of Adam's blade. 'Monster.' Did he effortlessly take out Holt without shedding a bead of sweat? Sure, Holt wasn't at full strength, but the man still had enough strength to fight. Where did he even come from.

Wait, Jaune frowned deeply as he watched Adam sheath his chokuto and turn his eyes back to him as he held Ann's body against his chest. What were those words he was speaking before attacking? They sounded like attacks.

"J-Jaune?"

"Ann? Are you okay!?" Jaune asked frantically, pressing his only useful hand against Ann's stab wound.

A weak annoyed look was Ann's answer, "Really? How cliche can you get?" Did she look fine? Was that even a necessary question?

"Sorry, that's usually the first thing to pop out of my mine when something like this happens." Just like the time he had held Weiss when she was hurt in his first life. By a White Fang member. His grip on her increased, the thought of the White Fang Lieutenant causing his scar to burn.

History tends to repeat itself. You'll die if you fight someone like him again. And have everything you've done be for nothing. Reset. Everything will be fine if you just die.

A throbbing headache accompanied the pain in his chest as Jaune grit his teeth. That voice again. Why did it sound like him? And why did it want him to die? He shook his head to rid the dark voice, turning his eyes to the ambling redheaded bull faunus coming his way.

"Holt. . .is he alright?" Ann couldn't help but ask even as she gasped from the hole courtesy of Adam's blade. She turned her head to the cloud of rubble created by his crash, clouding her sight of his status. Her chest tightened, every second he didn't get up worrying her.

Jaune nodded his head, his right eye summoning a crosshair to read Holt's condition though the veil of dirt and rubble. 'Holt Delmos, Shadow of Anubis, Scale of Souls, 109HP/24,000HP'

"He's not dead, that's something for a start." Jaune answered weakly.

Ann grunted, trying to get up only to fall back into Jaune's lap. She cursed, hating how weak she had fallen with one attack. Then again said attack nearly punctured her intestines, she was lucky he hadn't aimed for her lungs. Would not have survived that even with aura.

"We. . .have to get out of here. The man walking towards us isn't someone you can fight. Especially with the fact you only have one arm to fight with." she warned, panting lightly as her aura did its best to heal her wound.

"I have your boss to thank for that. Blame him." Jaune replied flatly. It wasn't like he was some weird dim witted being that wouldn't understand pain for five seconds. Hell, he was struggling to deal with the pain, having your humerus bone shattered wasn't a pleasant experience. He sighed tiredly as he pushed on, his fists cracking as he began to think of ways to fight one handed while holding Ann. It was like The Game had gone to functions and set the difficulty to impossible.

"Jaune, Jaune Arc, correct?" Adam stopped suddenly, his fingers tapping Blush as he addressed Jaune.

Jaune frowned in confusion, nodding his head wearily, "Yeah, how do you know that?" He wasn't exactly famous. How did a White Fang member know who he was?

Adam grinned, "You could say we've met before, though I doubt you'll remember. I'm surprised to see you down here, you've never been this strong. I wonder, why is that?" he said suspiciously, craning his neck as he looked over his battle worn state.

Jaune Arc was an odd NPC. His fate, his future, his destiny, was always tied to the light. A boy with wishes to be a hero and a legend like his ancestors. And he would come to fulfill those wishes, eventually growing to a man feared on the battlefield for his tactics and leadership in the coming events to take place in the next few years. Right now though, he wasn't any better then a common villager with their aura unlocked. Not even worth the pitiful EXP earned in his death or the Soul Points. But the oddity came in how such a common NPC came to be tied to the Story created by The Game.

The real question was what the blonde boy was doing, facing against the leader of the Friends of Faunus and still standing? He shouldn't have been capable of dealing so much damage against the leader with his skills.

'Scan' Adam couldn't help himself as his own crosshair scanned Jaune's stats. A face splitting grin took over his face at what he was reading, chuckling lowly before holding his sides as he bellowed with laughter.

The Heart of the Gamer? Jaune? Jaune Fucking Arc?! The dork knight was a Player?

"Has he lost his mind?" Ann asked as they both watched Adam try to regain control over his laughter. This was the dreaded leader of the White Fang?

Jaune wasn't able to answer, his face breaking into a cold sweat at what he had just seen. A dark red crosshair had hovered over the bull faunus eye, his brain clicking the pieces together as recalled the odd sayings the man would say as he attacked. He gulped, using his own scan to confirm his thoughts.

'Adam Taurus, Body of the Gamer.'

Another Player? The aura surrounding Adam was terrifying, his presence felt overwhelming. And he worked for the White Fang?

After finally getting a hold of himself, Adam cleared his throat as he turned his attention to his fellow Player, "Sorry about that, I was caught off guard for a second. I just would have never thought that you of all people would be involved in 'this'." he smirked before frowning, "Though I'm disappointed, I would have thought you would have killed the boss by now. Can't be helped, I guess. I'm guessing you've only just begun this little venture of ours."

"What is he talking about, Jaune?" Ann asked, gaining enough strength to stand on her feet.

"It's nothing." Jaune bit out, glaring at Adam who shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "I don't know what this creep's talking about."

Adam shook his head, "Really? Well, you and I have never met face to face, but I believe you've met my right hand man." he grinned, pointing his finger at Jaune's chest, "After all, my lieutenant is the one who gifted you that nice little scar that should have 'killed' you."

The scar burned hotter, nearly bringing Jaune to his knees as he gripped his chest. Not now!

He's the one! It's his fault! All because of that bastard, my body was stolen!

Stolen? Jaune grunted as he tried to ignore the feeling of his head splitting. First his arm, then his chest, now his head? Today just wasn't his day.

"You're the reason why I'm like this?" Jaune asked bitterly.

"Kinda. The Lieutenant disregarded orders that day and went to sate his blood lust with the Schnee heiress. I wouldn't have stopped him though. You would become an annoyance if you lived."

"Is that why you're here? To finish me off and save yourself the trouble?"

Adam shook his head with an amused grin, "Don't flatter yourself. While you're the newest contender in this little 'game' of ours, I'm not so cold hearted to kill you at your weakest. Where's the fun in that? You don't even have a weapon to fight with. Why haven't you called it yet?" he asked curiously as he looked around for the simple yet deadly sword of Jaune's. Looking back at his fellow Player he quirked a brow at the look of confusion on his face. Really? Did he not know how to summon it? It was one of the first things you learned with the power of The Gamer for crying out loud, "You don't know, do you? I swear, you've got to be kidding me. Hold your hand out and call on the name of the weapon you've equipped."

Hesitation surfaced at Adam's advice. He wasn't sure what to think of the guy. He was a Player too, but he was working for the White Fang. Having Crocea Mors back would help him out if things turned ugly. For now, Jaune decided to listen, reaching his hand out as he called out for his weapon.

"Crocea Mors!"

The soothing feeling of Crocea Mors falling back into his grip brought a smile to Jaune's lips as it appeared in a glow of white light. That's all he needed to do? Awesome! Now he didn't have to worry about losing it in a fight ever again. And it didn't cost him any MP. Why hadn't The Game informed him about that?

'Something's not right here' Adam thought. Taking another look into Jaune's Stats, he was surprised he had such low max health on him. And he was only lvl16? Even when he had his aura unlocked he was at lvl10. It was almost as if his level and stats had been split in half. How odd. Information also seemed to be missing to the knight, that had never happened before to any of them. It wasn't like The Will to leave out such things in their 'coding'.

Didn't matter, he thought as he unsheathed Wilt. It didn't affect him so there was no point in questioning it.

Hearing the sound of a blade scrapping off its sheath, Jaune strapped his sheath to his hand with some difficulty as he moved Ann behind himself, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Seriously? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm finishing this little 'event' and reaping the experience from it. Question is," he said sternly, aiming his glowing red blade to Jaune's chest with a scowl, "What are you doing protecting the enemy?"

"She's not the enemy, she's my friend! And I won't let you harm her!" Jaune shouted as he activated his shield.

"Friend? What are you talking about? She's a nobody, no one will remember her name when everything's said and done. Didn't Ren tell you about it?"

The Reset. Was he trying to tell him not to waste his time with NPC's, especially the ones created by a Remix? Just like Ren. Why?

"Unlike you two, I actually care about the lives of the people around me. I'm not so heartless as to see them like you do."

Adam chuckled. The kid still didn't understand the way their world worked now. He still believed every soul on Remnant was special and full of meaning. How naive. Reminded him of himself, back when he had the same spark in his eye. Like looking at a mirror.

Hero. What a joke.

Adam's body blurred from sight, warning Jaune of a surprise attack. He spun his body around, intent on protecting Ann, only to nearly fall forward into the blue haired girl by a slash across his back. Adam stood behind him, his face passively staring into his blue eyes gazing back at him.

"You never change. The first thing to come to your mind is not to protect yourself, but to protect the person near you. Can't tell you how many times you've died this way." he said as he aimed to thrust his blade through him.

"Reflect!"

Static energy sparked around Wilt's blade as it fought the mirror dome springing up to block his attack. He smirked at the spell and the boy glaring back him. A protection spell, how like him. Adam grinned as he reared his other hand back, his fingers clawing as they were enveloped by his aura.

Reflect was shattered into pieces by a simple claw thrust, breaking Jaune's defense to fall apart around him. He cursed, moving his shield to block Adam's descending blade. It felt like his arm had been cracked by the force slamming into it, nearly breaking his guard as he bit back the pain.

"What, out of potions? Wouldn't matter either way." Adam grinned, adding more pressure into his blade, "A broken arm can't be healed by simple potions, that takes some high quality stuff to heal, that or a doctor. So, why don't you stand back and leave me the girl? You can have the boss instead, you are the reason why he was so easy to knock out. Take it as a welcoming gift from one Player to another."

"Fat chance!" Jaune spat back, standing his ground, "Like I told Holt, I'm no killer! And Ann's my friend, I won't leave her to die by you! Even if it costs me my life, I won't let you hurt any of them!"

"You would rather take your chances fighting me, then walking away and taking free EXP? You really are stupid." That was fine with Adam. Meant more for him. He was running low on SP after his fight with Naragami. Killing all three would fill his points all the way back up.

Heat grew from behind the bull faunus. With his free hand, Adam spun Blush around and moved it behind to guard against the single spear thrust intent on running him through. Ann's visible eye was shadowed, her body raising the temperature around them by the leftover Dust running in her outfit.

The girl, Jaune cared about her, right? A dark grin took over Adam's features. Taking a deep breath, Adam unleashed a thundering roar from deep within, creating a shock wave in front of him, "King's Roar!"

Jaune felt the air around him sting, dropping his health by 200. He tried to withstand the shock wave, only to be pushed back on his backside. He grunted as he got back up, flinching as his shattered arm ached. Should have thought twice in discovering a self mutilation ability. Panting tiredly, he turned his eyes back to Adam, his eyes widening in horror as he watched the man grip Ann's wrist. Her weapon fell from her grip as she trembled before the horrifying aura exuding from Adam's body. She was being crushed by the killer intent hidden behind his mask.

Snap. The sounds of bones breaking rang out in the empty coliseum soon followed by a feminine scream of agony. Jaune's stared blankly at the sight of Ann falling on her knee's, clutching onto her broken wrist, biting her lips in a weak attempt to stop herself from crying. It looked like it was bent the wrong way as blood trailed from the peeking bone slipping out of the skin.

'Annabel Wargray, 101HP/18,000HP.'

Adam's back suddenly blocked Ann from his eyes, the sight of the man raising his red blade high in the air with a dark chuckle boiling his blood to the point of eruption.

Ann would die. With how little aura she had protecting her, she would suffer a critical hit, one that would no doubt kill her if not deal a deathly wound. One hit, that's all it would take. He would lose her in an instant after saving her.

Jaune dropped Crocea Mors shield, gripping its sword with all this strength as he called upon Gale Speed to appear swinging his blade with the intent of stopping Adam at whatever costs. His sword flared with white aura as his shadow fell over the man, ready to sever him in half with everything he had.

Adam smirked, his eyes focused on Ann and the shadow snaking around her.

Like a mirage, Adam's body vanished, leaving Ann to stare in shock at Jaune as his sword descended upon her. Jaune's heart stopped, his arm failing to stop its swing in time.

'Critical hit!'

A large splatter of blood stained the ground as the sword cut right through its target. Weak chuckling met Jaune's ears along with brown eyes filled with mirth. The shadows around the body faded, leaving Holt to grin with blood stained teeth at his fellow blondes gaze. Crocea Mors cut right across his body, stopping in the middle of his intestines. Blood gushed out the wound, pooling around the two quickly as the arena fell silent.

'Holt Delmos, -21,999HP/23,000HP.'

Appearing at the end of the arena where Holt had crashed through, Ann covered her mouth in horror as the shadows crawling around her died away. Her cry was muffled as tears began to trail down her eyes, her heart clenching at the sight of the blood gushing out of Holt's body.

Holt's blurry eyes gazed back at Jaune, struggling to smirk at the look of shock and regret he could vaguely make out. "I-I told you, only one o-of us would walk out of h-here a-alive. I just wouldn't have thought it would be m-me dying t-to y-you." he tried to laugh, only to cough out blood midway through.

"Holt. . ." Jaune ground his teeth, his eyes tearing up. His body was frozen, his arm yet to let go of its hold as his sword remained dug into Holt's body.

This. . .This wasn't how things were suppose to have gone! This wasn't what he wanted! He never wanted to kill anyone! Blood stained his clothing from the death slash, painting even his face with the man's blood. Jaune shut his eyes of the sight, shaking his head to try and rid the image burned into his mind. There was too much blood everywhere, was this how he looked like when he had died?

Holt scoffed with what strength remained. Was the boy crying? Over the dying breaths of his enemy? Truly he was weak willed. What man bawled over killing their enemy? The boy needed to grow some balls or the world would eat him up.

"G-Get a g-grip on yourself, b-boy. This is how a fight with s-swords is meant to e-end. You should f-feel honored in taking the life of a m-man s-such a-as I. S-Seems you've f-found y-your killer i-instinct." Holt weakly lifted his arm up, gripping the sword cutting though him with a somber grin.

"HOLT!"

Sliding himself off the blade, Holt fell back as he heard the frantic steps of his little assistant rush towards him. His body fell into her arms, her tears smacking into his cold face. He tilted his head, his eyes meeting her sniffling expression as he felt the hiccups leave her. Such a sight wasn't meant to be on the face of a lady. The girl never did look like one.

"A-Ann, glad t-to see you safe." It took all over his remaining strength to switch places with her. If he hadn't gained consciousness in time and regained his semblance, then he would have been too late. The frantic beating of her heart was music to his ears. He sighed in content despite slowly losing feeling in his body. Everything was dulling, his heart beating slower and slower with every second that past by.

Ann openly grit her teeth, unable to stop the tears running down her eyes at the sight of the man who saved her so long ago. She had never wanted to say it, but he was like the father she had never gotten the chance to know and love. Holt had committed so many crimes in his life, too many to count, no one should be shedding a tear in such a man leaving the world. Yet she couldn't help herself as her heart broke.

Despite everything, she had only just realized how much she loved him. Her adoptive father.

"Holt, don't die on me! You can't just go out like this! You're stronger then this for god's sake! PLEASE!" she cried in anguish, not caring for the blood gushing as she buried her face into his chest. Tears mixed with blood as she gripped his bloody shirt, praying for once in her life for him to stay.

"Don't you leave me too."

'I did this.' Jaune stepped away from the two, his eyes falling onto his bloody shaking hands still gripping the now red metal blade glaring into his soul. Bile rose up his throat, vomiting his stomachs contents onto the ground as his body trembled. Sick, he felt sick to deepest depths of his core. The sobbing girl pleading for the man who treated her like a daughter, he had caused it. His sword had cut down a man without ever meaning to.

It was easy to kill Grimm. The creatures of darkness didn't posses a soul, they didn't feel nothing but negativity. Just like when he was killing monsters in his games, he never felt a thing when he killed them. Or even people, they were just code and numbers. There were no real consequences. And in the end, the people he killed would respawn if he reset the game, they would come back. That's how games worked.

Jaune's life was now a game. What he did wouldn't matter in the great scheme of things, they would all come back if he reset. Killing some random nobody didn't mean a thing.

Was that how Ren saw it? How Adam viewed it? In the end, everything would just go back to normal in their next life. No consequences would follow them if they did.

"So, how does it feel in killing someone? You feel a rush, don't you?"

Anger, rage, Hate. Slowly turning his head to the amused voice, Jaune glared mutely at Adam, his blue eyes wide in barely contained hatred.

Adam shook his head with a small chuckle, his face turning somber as he motioned his hand at the younger man, "No, you feel sick, disgusted, ashamed, at what you've done, don't you? You're first kill is never suppose to feel good. The waste of life is a sad thing, but," he said firmly, "It is necessary for progress. You'll never grow any stronger then you are now if you don't wet your blade. You should really thank me for pushing you into your first kill, now it will only get easier."

". . .Easier?" Jaune hissed hatefully, grinding his teeth as his face became shadowed. Both his fists clenched, cracking loudly as the pain from his scar burned brighter. The pain didn't matter, too engrossed in the anger now consuming him, his thoughts drowned by the sobbing behind him.

Holt smiled faintly, his eyes growing heavy as his heart began to go through its last beats. So, this was how he was going out? Dying to the blade of a boy who didn't even mean to kill him in the first place? How pathetic. Here he was, trying to do some actual good for his people, only to die before he could ever make a difference of any sort. All the money, training, time and effort, put into his plans gone to waste. Because of some boy. A boy who didn't understand how the world worked.

But, at least he had saved his little Anabel from dying to her friends blade. In all his planning to humanize his own kind, she had been his little ray of light in the darkness he had drowned himself in. The little redheaded orphan living in a cardboard home in the dirty streets of Vale. His adoptive daughter he had raised for years and loved with all his heart. The only thing that proved he still had a soul.

Why? Why did he pick her up that day, so long ago? A human child that who suffered at the hands of faunus, distrustful to all who gazed at her. What did he see in those eyes staring back at him, ready to kill him if he moved the wrong way, to take her in and raise her?

A faint memory, now hazy as his thoughts began to fade and his consciousness died. The memory of a little boy with dirty blonde hair, jackal ears and a tail curling around himself, hiding in a little hut of damp cardboard and boxes as the rain poured, and the patter of feet moving by, ignoring his very existence, came to mind. Silent tears ran down the boys face as he looked at his own reflection in the puddles of rainwater gathered around him, staring hatefully at the droopy canine ears on his matted head. A boy that the world had ignored for his appearance. And the knife gripped tightly in his battered and dirty little hand, gleaming dangerously in his reflection.

Holt released a dying chuckle, his chest pausing with his last breath as the light in his dark brown eyes began to fade.

That's right, he saw a kindred spirit within those eyes. He could still see the same little girl he had brought back with him crying against his chest, her blue haired faintly replaced by her natural red locks. He always wondered why she had dyed such beautiful hair, red suited her better then blue. It was too bad he was dying, he should have said it to her earlier if he knew.

She was going to be alone again. Just like the day he had found her. No, he smiled one last time as his heart stopped completely, his chest falling as his body grew ice cold.

His little orphan Annie still had a friend in the world. Even if Jaune was a weak willed idiot. He could at least trust him to keep her safe.

'Congratulations! You've Killed Holt Delmos, Shadow of Anubis, Scale of Souls! +232,000EXP! You're level has risen by 1! You've received Fragments of The Prideful! You've received Anubis! You've learned Piercing Light!'

Insulting. The message popping up in front of Jaune made him despise the new power running though his viens. It made his stomach even sicker. That in the end, Holt's death had made him stronger and rewarded him for the passing of the man. Even if he was his enemy, Holt still meant a great deal to someone, to Ann. The feeling of his body growing stronger and new items being dropped into his inventory felt hollow. And the burning in his chest felt like fire erupting out of his chest.

"You think you did me a favor? You don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Jaune spat, his aura escaping his body like fire. He raised his sword in front of himself, his mind going blank as the dark voice in his mind grew louder.

DO IT! FUCKING KILL HIM! HE'S THE REASON WHY WE'RE IN THIS MESS TO BEGIN WITH! WHAT'S ONE MORE DEATH?!

A red tint grew in Jaune's blue eyes as he carved an X in the air with his sword, the white symbol suddenly turning black as night as he aimed his blade at Adam.

KiLl hIM!

Stabbing his sword into the X, Jaune blankly watched as Crocea Mors fought against the symbol as it tried to reject the blade. Like glass, the X shattered, blasting a black torrent like rush of magic after Adam. It tore apart everything in sight, towering size of a grown man in both height in width as rippling rings of pressured air trailed after it.

Adam smirked at the incoming attack, blowing back his hair and rustling his clothes in the gale created. That looked pretty scary. Who knew Jaune had something like that in him? Partway unsheathing Wilt from Blush, Adam stood his ground as he prepared himself to absorb the attack. An odd whine sounded off as the special attack slammed into him, taking him completely by surprise as the rush of dark colored magic refused to soak into Wilt's red blade. He grunted, frowning as his feet began to skid back bit by bit. In the end, the attack broke Adam's guard stance, devouring him within the black and blowing apart the wall and seats behind him.

Jaune blinked sluggishly, his mind cleared of the dark voice haunting his consciousness. What did he just do? Did he just use an ability without even knowing what it did yet? The use of the ability felt draining, more then any of his usual abilities, his breathing had gone heavy from the strain. A sharp pang in his arm made him drop his sword, his HUD displaying that he had used up the last of his MP and then some.

Sniffling could be heard behind him, bringing his attention back to Ann staring at him with red eyes and a mix of emotions. Grief, anger, hate, remorse, so many that stabbed at his heart. All of them directed at him. He killed Holt, the only thing close to family to her in the world. He deserved it.

"I got to say, I was not expecting that to sting."

"I should have known that wouldn't take you down." Jaune sighed in frustration, looking back at the rubble created by his explosive attack. Through the cloud of dust, Adam strolled out, dusting off the bits of rubble on his clothing. His trenchcoat was ripped across his chest, revealing a burn like slash created by the stinging energy. Oddly enough, his aura struggled to heal the damage.

'Adam Taurus, Body of the Gamer. 31,000HP/32,000HP.'

Only a thousand damage? With how draining his last attack had been, he wouldn't be able to pull off that much damage again.

"As impressive as that was, you and I both know you don't have it in you to keep fighting. Adrenaline is the only thing keeping you standing right now. You and the girl are as good as dead. So, why keep fighting?" Adam asked as he walked forward.

"Because I still have something worth fighting for, that's why!" Jaune shouted, panting as even speaking became draining. He struggled as he picked up Crocea Mors, raising it in a stance as Adam walked closer, stopping a few feet away from him.

"You still have something worth fighting for? That woman behind you is an enemy, part of a group of filthy humans that chop of the limbs that make my people faunus! She's no innocent then the blood of the man on your face. Why defend her?"

"Because she's my friend! Even. . .even if she ends up hating me for what I've done, cursing my name and wishing for my death, I'll protect her because she's my friend! And that's all the reason that I need!"

Reason, Adam mused as he tapped the hilt of his chokuto. He would die to protect some NPC that would only fade into nothing in the next Reset? Now that he thought back to it, his Lieutenant had killed Jaune in the last world while he had been protecting the little Schnee. It was a wonder the blonde knight had even been able to hold him back and wound him with how weak he had originally been. It was impressive to say the least. Reminded him of how Naragami had come back stronger after his supposed death. He grinned at the end results of their fight.

"Tell me, do you know what 'level' I'm on compared to you?" Adam asked, being careful to words his meanings. Did not want to be punished by the being controlling The Game for hinting even one NPC that their world was nothing but a game. He smirked smugly, swiping his chokuto at the coliseum seats above his side. Multiple twinkling red lines shined, collapsing the wall and all the seats in a pile of falling rubble diced to clean pieces. The rush of collapsing rubble created a wave of crashing dust, clouding the ground and drifting around their feet as he had effortlessly taken out a huge chunk of the spectators aisles.

"If, I don't know, say this was a video game of some sort." he paused for a minute, waiting to see if he had said too much, sighing when judgment didn't fall upon him before continuing, "Then I would stand to be lvl55, so high that leveling up becomes a chore at this point. Compared to some 'noob' who still hasn't grasped the full power they're capable of, you're but an annoying enemy with slightly high defense that I can kill with single swipe of my blade." he said confidently, leveling his blade to the bridge of Jaune's forehead, "Two if you got anymore surprises up your sleeves."

Jaune's swallowed a heavy lump in his throat, his face sweating at the demolition Adam had created. He didn't even see the swings from the first one that followed after the first. Still, he scowled with fierce determination, he wouldn't run away. Death was no stranger, and he had only fallen to it once since he had been granted these new powers. He would not fall to it again.

"I've been facing opponents leagues above me constantly since I 'first' came into Beacon, and nothings changed since then! If there is something that has changed since then, it's that I have a much stronger reason to become stronger! So, don't think you'll scare me into abandoning someone I care about!"

Jaune's breath hitched, his eyes trembling as Adam appeared in a blink to stare him down, the red chokuto piercing his sternum, stabbing through the space of his ribcage and nearly nicking his lungs. Blood bubbled up his throat, spilling out his lips without restraint.

"Spare me the heroic speech, will you? Words mean nothing if you don't have the power to back them up." Adam drawled, the slits of his mask digging into the blue eyes twitching in spasms of pain.

'Jaune Arc, 507HP/5,600HP.'

Still had enough aura to keep him out of death's hands? How high was his Defense? Well, that was all he was good for. Sliding his blade out, Adam swiped it to the side, throwing off the blood in one swift motion. Jaune fell to his knee's, blood spilling out of his lips, too weak to even grip his newest wound to stop the bleeding before falling forward. Such a pathetic sight to see, he scoffed, turning his eyes to the last of the enemies left in his HUD. Didn't even look like she would put up a fight, her green eyes looked at him dully, dead to the world as her tears continued to stream down her face.

And Jaune wanted to protect such a sight? An NPC was worthless, but one created by a Remix was nothing but a speck in the grand scheme of things. Why waste a life protecting such a fleeting memory? He took a step forward, prepared to cut her down just like the blondes laid around him in their own blood, only to be stopped as his foot stepped down by a strong tug on his pants leg. Adam shook his head, his eyes finding Jaune still trying to stop him.

That's when he saw it. A spark, blazing in the young man's eyes that refused to die away. The spark of challenge. He couldn't help himself as he grinned widely.

With every Reset, Adam had come to grow bored with the repetitive challenges facing him in each world. Remixes were a godsend, bringing him some entertainment for a short while. Since the only other two Players in this endless game no longer cared to interfere in his plans for wiping out humanity or the reward of winning The Game, he no longer had anyone worth stopping him. Even Blake, who was the reason he was fighting to begin with, no longer posed a threat to him. With no one capable of challenging him any longer, Adam had become bored.

But that spark, that spark in Jaune's eyes, it invited challenge. The challenge of an opponent that would not stop until he had been stopped, risking his life to stop his 'evil' ways. It had been so long since he had seen such a spark, one that could grow to become a raging inferno to clash against his own in a brilliant display of resonating blades!

Adam's chokuto clicked as it returned to Blush, chuckling as he kicked off Jaune's weak grip.

Yes, Jaune was a hero. One that would try to stop him and his plans. And grow to pose a threat. He couldn't wait for the day. But he would need to live, they did say what didn't kill you only makes you stronger.

"Today's your lucky day, Jaune. Seems that killing you would do me no good. Don't misunderstand me though," Adam smiled darkly, stomping his heel onto Jaune's head. He ground his foot into his skull, enjoying the look of anger the boy was still capable of expressing in his state, "The only reason you'll live is not because you were strong, but because I allowed it. Remember that every time you wake up in the morning, every time you're enjoying a peaceful moment, every time you find something to smile at, every time you can breath easy, is because I didn't decide to drive my blade into your pathetic skull like a watermelon. Remember, that I can easily snuff out your life," he bent down, whispering into his ear so that no one could hear, "In every Reset. I can easily find you at your Reset Point and kill you every time before you can even breath. Because at the end of the day," he smirked as he stood back up, reaching into his sleeve to secretly go into his Inventory. A small gothic obsidian door made of glass appeared in his hand before he tossed it to the ground. In a poof of smoke, the little door enlarged into a regular sized frame, standing shut and leading to nowhere.

"I'm that much stronger then you. At what you're capable of now is nothing compared to the others. So, I'd think wisely and work on becoming stronger then you are now. Consider the girl I'm sparing a pity gift, a consolation prize for even scratching me. Next time though?"

Adam chuckled as he creaked open the door, revealing a swirling vortex of energy and stepping through. The door shut behind him with a click, dissolving the door in wisps of darkness as his voice rang with his exit.

"The one you're protecting won't be so lucky. Got that memorized?"

The blood stopped leaking, Jaune's aura now finally having the free time to focus on stopping him from dying of blood loss. His eyes shut tightly as Adam left, his heavy presence free of this area. His fingers dug into the bloody dirt underneath him as tears ran down his face in regret. All the pain hitting his sense meant nothing compared to the shame he had suffered.

Spared. Spared by the enemy out of what? Pity? Smugness? No, it was because he could. On whim, he spared his life, the life of a person who had taken a life without ever meaning to. Everything would have been for nothing if Adam had decided it, to take his life with ease. Because he was that much weaker compared to the rest of them.

Pathetic. To think, The Game chose you. Hmph, clearly it had made a mistake.

Drip.

Jaune's eyes snapped open at the sound, his exhausted eyes looking back to the heart wrenching sight of Ann, on her knee's still clutching onto the now icy cold body of Holt. Her face was blank, her eyes still streaming with tears as she showed no sign of even registering his existence. She looked so alone, lost to the world. Her skin was pale, her green eyes dim and lifeless. Completely opposite of the girl who had been annoyed with his presence.

Pain lanced through Jaune's being as he crawled forward, his legs refusing to listen to his commands to reach Ann. It didn't matter if she hated him for killing Holt, she had to know she wasn't alone! Not again, never again! He was still breathing, no matter how weak he was. He had more then enough strength to show her that!

Alone. She was all alone again. Ann had nothing left to live for anymore. Even the little paradise she had been working towards meant nothing to her, all the Lien she had slaved over dimmed to pale gray. What was the point in living when the only person to ever give a damn about her was no longer around to smile at, laugh at her, grin at her, and care about her? Why was it she had never realized how important the people she truly cared about were to her until it was far too late? Why was she doomed to lose the ones she loved every time she let them in to her heart?

What had she done to deserve such punishment? Damn aura, why couldn't it stop protecting her and let her bleed out like the trash she was? There was no point in protecting her any longer, there was nothing left to live for now. A world where she continued to lose whoever she cared for was not a world she wanted to continue living in, nor escape.

Why couldn't she just die? Could god not grant her that one wish?

Soft, dirty, bloody fingers tickled her tear stained cheek, momentarily snapping Ann out of her despairing thoughts. That's when she saw them, the drops of tears falling under the chin of the familiar mop of messy blonde hair. And the sadness pouring out of the blue eyes of the killer of her father figure. His battered hand trembled, ready to fall at any moment as it held her cheek.

Ann wanted to scream, to shout, to yell at his face with every dirty word she had learned in the slums she had grown up in. He had killed Holt, cutting him down with his sword in one fatal slash. Because of him, the only person who cared about her anymore in this world had passed on without fulfilling his dream of bringing both species together. If she had the strength, she would have treated him in kind, cutting him down just as he did to Holt. But, Ann couldn't do it, not when he had such an expression on his face. She couldn't see the face of a killer in those eyes, of a man who would not hesitate to cut those in his way.

All she saw was a dork, an idiot who failed to charm even a desperate woman. The same idiot who had stumbled into her heart like that with very little effort. Who treated her as a friend even when she had tried to drive her spears into his body. Who wanted nothing more then to free of this dark, dirty world she had walked through at the cost of even his well being and career.

In the end, all she could see was a friend reaching out his only good hand to her in her time of need.

"Ann, I'm sorry." Jaune cried weakly, turning his eyes down as his body shook with sobs.

Warm tears replaced Ann's cold tears, sniffling in an attempt to stop herself from crying anymore, only to lose as her hand grabbed onto Jaune's, hugging it closer to her face as she let loose all her pent up sadness and grief. She cried loudly like a child, nose dripping with snot as she struggled to even breath. It felt like she would choke in her sobbing.

What an ugly sight. Crying like some brat who lost their parents in the store. At least no one was there to judge her for it.

Only the stupid Blondie passed out in front of her, with a face wracked in regret.

---

"You know the drill, hands up where I can see 'em."

Voila felt her brow twitch in annoyance at the brown haired officer with slick back hair and the strawberry haired woman next to him. Really?

"And how am I going to do that, officer?" she said nicely, her smile strained as she was encased in a block of ice from her feet to her chin.

Ken shrugged his shoulders, tapping his foot as the bustle of police activity roared behind him. "I don't know? I got to cuff something, that's all I know. I don't think we have headcuffs."

"But we do! It's that thing people lock people's heads in before they chop off their heads!"

Ken blinked, turning to his sisters with a quirked brow, ". . .Do we have one of those?" he asked curiously.

Barbie shook her head with a wide grin, "Nope! But I do!"

"Why?"

"I don't question you about your fetishes, so don't question mine."

What the hell were these people? Voila's head slumped onto the ice, her lower mask torn away to leave her visibly pouting. Stupid coffee drinking bastard and his icethrower. Her semblance only allowed to phase through physical attacks and objects, not Dust or elements! Cheating old man. Her eyes turned to the side, catching sight of her little brother being chained up by what looked like some high quality chains. Poor little guy, he was burned all over by the candy loving freak's lightning rounds. A large bruise showed itself across his face, courtesy of eating an aura infused bat to the face.

Their fight with the two Beacon teachers had been difficult. Even when she and her brother worked together in sync, the two teachers were able to form a plan and smack them around like children. They were on the losing end of the fight, their auras declining with each hit. Eventually, they failed to activate their semblances, falling to their hits as their aura shattered and left them defenseless. The boss was a great guy and all, but their was no way Voila was throwing away their lives for the guy. So, they had surrendered at her word, dropping their weapons, but not before they had knocked her little brother out and encased her in ice for safety. Dicks.

She sighed dejectedly, turning her eyes to the sky as she could faintly make out the beginning of the sun rising from the horizon. This wasn't exactly how she had envisioned things going. They had only joined in hopes of making some money, and as revenge for what a faunus had done to her little brother, nearly killing him with a blade to his jugular. Justice, and all that yarn. In the end though, they were only criminals, about to be locked away for their crimes. Guess that's what they called justice too.

"Are you two still stalling? Get a gurney or something, we got to wrap things up before the sun rises. God knows I need some rest after having my jaw cracked by some half machine man."

Pausing their bickering over fetishes and personal privacy, Ken and Barbie straightened themselves up as Church walked towards them. He didn't look well with all the bruises slowly healing on his face, his arm bandaged in a sling, along with the dark stains of his dried blood on his tattered uniform. They still didn't understand why he hadn't just stayed back and let the nurses running around take him back to fully treat his wounds. To see him still willing to work until this was finally over with brought some major respect to their senior.

"Can I still lock her head up? I feel robbed in missing out in the action." Barbie pouted cutely, her back turned from her captive who shook her head pleadingly.

"Has she killed anyone?" Church asked.

"Not to our knowledge. I don't think she was even able to mortally wound a single person, honestly." Ken answered as he scratched his head in thought.

"Then, no." he answered, causing Barbie to hang her head in disappointment and Voila to sigh in relief. "Even criminals don't deserve such cruel and unusual punishment."

"Fine. I won't play with her until she's been convicted of worse crimes."

"Can someone else lock me up, please? I don't like the look in this chick's eyes!"

"But!" Barbie exclaimed loudly, poking Church's blood dried chest with a small glare, "You have to promise to see a real doctor after this is over with and not head back with those wounds. You look like you're ready to pass out, boss. I'm shocked you're even standing."

"I agree, you need to go to the hospital, or something. If it wasn't for your aura, you'd be dead. I can't imagine what Ashlee must be feeling." Ken shook his head with a chuckle, already imagining the look of fury on the woman's face, "If you don't die from those, you'll die by the ones your wife deals on ya."

Church sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he nodded, "Right, I hear you. Let me make sure everything's good and our little info man has made it out safely first." he frowned, remembering where the message of the FoF's final plans had come from, "Jaune's still inside there and none of my messages have gotten through to him. I have to make sure he's fine first, I won't be able to rest without him out of that deathtrap."

Ken could understand. Jaune was a cool guy, if not dorky. All this wouldn't be possible without the kid's help. In a surprising turn of events, there had been very little casualties, four from the looks of it. Bodies would have been piling up if they hadn't learned of their activities with Jaune's help. They owed the kid much more then they could ever repay.

"I'm sure he's fine. He's been able to put up with my sister's insanity. So, we know he's made of durable stuff." he grinned, pointing his finger back to said sister as she had whipped out some belts, tied them around the block of ice encasing Voila, and began to drag her away with a perky smile that sent shivers down their spines. Was that a paddle in the waist of her belt?

"Yeah, guess you're right about that." Church tried to smile, ready to go back to his work until a loud shout caught their attention.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS A DOCTOR!? WE NEED ONE NOW, FUCKING RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT!"

Barreling through the crowd of officers around the gated entrance to Crime Haunt, a large group of huntsman and huntresses rushed into their view. Beacon students from the looks of it with two teachers accompanying the eight of them. But what caught Church's and Ken's attention was the blonde boy carried in the arms of the busty golden locked girl shouting for a doctor, the girls eyes blazing red in search of the aid she needed.

"Jaune?!" Church nearly stammered, his heart dropping at the nearly mangled form. The two officers rushed over, stopping in front of the large team, their worst fears coming to life.

"What the hell happened to him?!"

"WHO FUCKING CARES RIGHT NOW!?" Yang bellowed, tears stinging her eyes, her hair sizzling as she glared at the men in their way, "JUST FIND HIM A DAMN DOCTOR, OR GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!"

"Ms. Xiao Long! Please, such anger will do us no good. We must remain calm and not lose ourselves to such emotions right now." Oobleck scolded with a frown, causing said girl grit her teeth but nod her head. Fixing his glasses, the green haired professor went back to the officers, his face stern as he spoke, "Please, if you may quickly find us the nearest doctor available. I'm afraid one of my students has sustained incredible damage to his body along with tremendous blood loss. He needs to see a doctor as soon as possible and be taken to the hospital." Turning to Yang, he urged the girl to hand him her fellow blonde, thanking Pyrrha as she urged the hotheaded girl to give her partner to him. Yang bit her lips, nodding her head as she gave Jaune up.

Taking his light bodied student in his arms, Oobleck was able to see just how much his student had been hurt. His face was bruised in blue and green tints, caked with both dirt and blood. His right arm was mangled, the humerus bone shattered horridly with some signs of the bone poking out of the skin. Tears and gashes covered his chest, tearing his signature hoodie and chest plate to scrap. Too much blood soaked into his clothing, hardening the fabric. Such a condition should have never fallen onto one of his students.

"Time is of the essence. I'm afraid he doesn't have much time left if he doesn't get the help he desperately needs." Oobleck asked, his blue eyes pleading through his glasses.

Church swallowed the lump in his throat, his eyes frantically searching for a free doctor, "You don't have to say that twice! Is there an free doctor or nurse around here?! We have a critically wounded over here!"

"Well, it's a good thing I went out for a drink last night. Going to need a fresh pack of smokes after dealing with all the wounded brought to my ass." A feminine voice sighed from behind them.

Artemis Spriggan greeted their sights, dressed in her civilian clothes of a blue open jacket and white blouse, dark blue mini skirt, and white heels. She ground her cigarette into dust at what she found in Professor Oobleck's arms, pushing by the officers in her way as she spat out the smoking stick.

"For fuck's sake, what did the idiot do? Let an Ursa Major smack him around without his aura?" Artemis scowled deeply as she checked Jaune's pulse. She sighed in a small moment of relief, feeling the small but strong pulse on his neck. Moving onto the mess that was his broken arm, she cursed loudly at the bumps she felt by running her hands around it.

"Shattered, his humerus bone is shattered to hell. We need to perform surgery on him as quick as possible, or not even his aura will be able to fix the damage. Not to mention he's lost nearly four pints of blood by my guess, he needs a transfusion before anything else or he's as good as dead. I could write you a list of what he needs now, but it be better if we went off to the nearest hospital then waste more time."

Artemis swept her long pink locks back, cursing herself for not having any quality medical supplies on her. Went out for a drink and now it looked she was going to need an open bar after this. What was it about the blonde kid that had him going back to her with such nasty wounds? Was that a bullet scar on his forehead? Just what had he been caught up in?

Motioning her head to the coffee loving teacher, she turned her attention back to Church, fixing her satchel as she rummaged around for something. "Find us some transportation, now. I can already tell you that if we don't get him to a hospital in the next half hour, there is no point in saving him. He's lucky to be breathing." Finding what she was looking for, Artemis bite down on the syringe in hand filled with green liquid. Taking off its cap, she didn't waste a second as she stabbed its thin needle into Jaune's chest, straight into his heart before pressing down to release its liquid.

Aura could heal wounds, but it couldn't regenerate blood loss. The little mixture should at least buy her some time and pump a bit more in his circulation.

Church nodded, shouting at Ken to find them a ride. It didn't take long as he turned back to the teachers, motioning his head to follow after him, "Come on, we got police escort, so we should make it in time."

"Watch over the kids, Hope." Oobleck urged to the calm sunglasses wearing teacher. He got a nod from the man as he adjusted his hold on the weight on his back, the form of a blue haired woman passed out greeting him. Her wounds weren't as serious, the worst being a stab wound that had finished healing and a snapped wrist. They would be sure to find her some help as well when they had the chance.

"Understood, class is still session after all. Can't have them missing their studies, can we?" he smiled lightly, wishing he could reach into his pockets for a sugary treat.

Stepping forward, Pyrrha was ready to follow after the departing party. Professor Pitho's hand stopped her though, his eyes somber as he shook his head.

"Shouldn't we follow after? We need to know that Jaune's alright!" Pyrrha frowned, tears ready to fall.

"He'll be fine, you gotta trust in the adults to take care of things from here. You kids shouldn't even be in the middle of this mess in the first place."

"But Blake and Velvet were in trouble!" Ruby weakly shouted, her body carried on the back of her partner in a piggyback. She had used her semblance too much, draining her of her ability to even walk after making it to Jaune's location. Thankfully, Ren had carried her before they found their teams stumbling onto the missing girls, and oddly enough, Cardin. The mace wielding bully was the last person she would have expected to find helping them out.

"I understand, but the people you were facing weren't Grimm." Professor Pithos said sternly, his face body losing its normal lazy composure, "The people you were fighting weren't mindless, they knew how to fight and were more then willing to kill you. I know you're all strong huntsman in training, but that's just it, you're all in training, you're all still kids. The two guards watching over the gate were well trained and had strong semblances at hand. It's arrogant to think that every opponent you face will be taken down because you think you're special, the world is bigger then you know."

Words to live by. The kids in front of him were talented, just as gifted as he was when he was their age, but such confidence lead to many mistakes and losses. Maybe they could have been capable of beating the two FoF guards, but the chances of one them winding up seriously injured, or worse, were neck and neck with the odds as well. They were just children after all, they had years to go before they were ready for this kind of action.

And sometimes, such fights would end in the loss of life. To make a decision that would haunt them for the rest of their days. The dead body lying on the ground next to the two teens they found in the large demolished coliseum came to mind, along with the wound cutting right through the dirty blonde's chest by the red dyed sword by Jaune's side.

"Look, I will congratulate you all on what you have accomplished here today. You were all able to save many lives today and held your own against opponents even grown men would die to. But it's all over with now, your friends are in safe hands and hopefully Glynda won't be riding your little behinds for rushing into the fray as you did." he smiled lazily, dropping his serious attitude for the moment, "I'm sure people will talk about this day in history books to come, but for now you should all be focusing on the history on your make up tests tomorrow. It's pretty obvious none of you will be able to go to class today, you all look ready to fall over into dream land."

"But, Jaune-" Pyrrha began to argue only for her teacher to shake his head.

"Will be resting in the hospital when next you see him. What's important now is to let the adults take care of him and help him regain his health. There's nothing you can do now that will help him as he is now."

"Nothing? But I feel so helpless." Jaune was her partner, her first friend in Beacon. Yet here she was, waiting to see if he would pull through after getting involved in some fight with a leader of a criminal organization. How did he go from a student studying for tests to nearly dying in a night? What was he keeping from her that he wouldn't tell her, his partner?

Pitho's scratched his chin, not sure what to say before shrugging his shoulders, "Well, there is one thing you could do."

"What's that?" Nora asked, her mood sullen at the sight of her leader. Ren stood beside her, his chest bandaged and exhausted from his own fighting as she supported him in his weak state.

"Pray. When there is nothing you can do, all one can do is pray. If you believe in that kind of thing. As a scientist, I'm not much of a believer in that kind of stuff, but even I pray."

Weiss quirked her brow at the nonchalant man, "Really? That's quite surprising from a man such as yourself. Didn't think you would be the praying sort."

"Eh, you never know what lies beyond death. I'd like to spread my chances, just in case there does lay something at the end other then nothing." Pithos smirked dully, fixing the blue haired girl he carried on his back. Now that he thought about it, it was about time they themselves got checked on. The large brute had landed some hits on him, and his aura was doing its best to heal the damage. Wasn't much of a close range fighter, couldn't shake off taking a crack at his face from a man as huge as Hans.

"Let's go find us some medical attention. The little lady we've rescued is in need of some, aren't ya, kid?" he chuckled, nudging the girl a bit.

Ann's face scrunched, opening one of her tired green eyes to glare at the man carrying her, "Shut up, ya bastard." she said weakly, her voice rasp and low from the days events. Where the hell was she? Last she recalled, Jaune had passed out from his wounds and exhaustion. Then everything went black for a bit.

"Such language. . .want a gumball?"

If she could, Ann would scoff at the man. Instead, her eyes did their best to focus on the people around her, looking for signs of a blonde idiot amongst them. "Where's. . .Blondie?" she struggled to speak, her eyes falling in need of more rest.

"I'm guessing you mean Jaune? Don't worry, he's being looked after."

"Good." Ann smiled lightly, the answer being more then fine enough for her as she shut her eyes. As long as he was safe, she didn't care what awaited her. Just as long he was alive. "Then you can do what you want with me, I don't care. As long as he's good."

"What a character. I think I'll call her Sourdrop. Sound good?" he asked, getting no response as she fell back to sleep, ". . .I didn't hear a no."

"He is right." Yang agreed, nodding to his earlier comment of finding some medical treatment. After finally calming down, her attention fell onto her own partner standing with the support of Velvet and Cardin. Still surprising to find him of all people helping. What was he doing here? Shaking her head of the thoughts for the moment, she frowned at her partner's own state of wear, "You need to see a doctor too. I see you trying to hide that bruised rib, can't hide nothing from mama Yang. Got eyes like a dragon!"

"Doesn't she mean hawk?" Weiss said flatly, only for Ruby to shake her head with a sigh.

"No, no she doesn't."

"I'm fine, Yang." Blake smiled softly, only to hiss as a certain someone decided to poke said rib. She glared in annoyance at the unapologetic flat stare from Cardin as he retreated his finger.

"She's lying. Idiot could use some R&R." he scoffed, biting back a hiss as she returned the favor by jabbing his broken arm.

Velvet sighed at the two as they began repeatedly poking anothers wounds, "They both could stand to see a doctor. It's safe to say we've all had a very long day. I know I have a healed stab wound that could still use some disinfectant and my ankles are killing me."

"I hear that, sister!" Ruby grinned, earning a roll of Weiss's eyes as she swung her legs around, "Using my Speed all day has made my legs turn to jelly! Been a while since I ran so much, I felt like Professor Oobleck for a bit there."

"Velvet is right, worrying over Jaune's health won't do us any good. It's better to get some rest and heal up. We can visit the doofus once we're all rested." Weiss nodded. Besides, the sooner they went off, the sooner she could drop the speed freak she was supporting.

"My own team must be worrying about me as well. Coco's not going to be happy when she hears about this." Velvet pouted with a blush. Her leader was going to have her ass once she got back. Apparently she learned a thing or two after watching Jaune perform his 'finishing move'.

Cardin nodded at that, giving Blake one last glare as he rubbed his broken arm, "My guys have been messaging nonstop since yesterday. I guess I owe them the tale of our little adventure too. I've been keeping too much from them for too long. Gotta come clean." he sighed as he scratched the back of his head. Boy, were they not going to be thrilled.

With that in mind, the Beacon students began to head off for the nearest bullhead. The day had been long, and tomorrow was just shy of rising.

Pyrrha was still upset at not going along with her partner, but relented as they left. There were so many questions rising, and she would be sure to get them answered once Jaune was good and well. She never did like secrets.

---

From the top of the many buildings abandoned in the deserted part of the city, Adam watched on as the huntsman and police slowly departed. A notification window popped up in his HUD, rewarding him his prizes and items earned by completing the Event, going ignored as his eyes trailed after the form of Blake.

Once again, she was out of his reach. That would never change, sadly. Not as long as her ideals refused to change. Her love for the humans would always end in her demise. One of the few things in every Reset that would never change.

"I take it we won't be dealing with the Friends of Faunus any longer."

Adam nodded his head as the form of his lieutenant fell beside him, "They've perished, just like the rest will once the time comes." he answered, tilting his head back to stare at the slowly rising sunset above them.

"Are you disappointed? I know you've had your own deep seated grudge towards their leader."

The Lieutenant clenched his fists, taking a deep breath as he looked at the sunrise alongside his leader, "A grudge is a dangerous thing. If I had met Holt face to face, I would have lost my sanity. My anger and hate would have made me sloppy, leaving me to die at his hands. You've set me free of that one grudge, so you have my gratitude."

"They say our animal appendages make us animals. So, what does that make an animal once you've removed their beastly markings?" Adam asked, his eyes peeking towards the top of the Lieutenant's head.

"They may remove what makes us animals, but deep down, we are all just animals." The Lieutenant growled.

Adam smirked. The world did see animals, so why deny them their vision? And their was a rule in the animal kingdom.

It's eat or be eaten.

"We've spent enough time here." Turning away from the beautiful sight, Adam went off back to their own hideout. It was trashed a bit after his fight with Naragami, but it would do fine until the final phase of their plans began. The only trouble brought up from the damages would be the glare from Cinder demanding an explanation. Working with her was always an annoyance, but necessary.

"We still have much to do. Let the humans enjoy their remaining times of peace. It won't be long till we usher in the flames of our revolution."

By then, he would have to see how strong Jaune would become. Hopefully he would prove to be a challenge next time around. His blade was itching for a real fight.

The Lieutenant nodded as he followed behind, pausing for a moment as he couldn't help but look back at the humans and faunus students leaving for Beacon. A pair of bunny ears standing up at attention caught his gaze, the sight raising a smile behind his mask.

How sadly nostalgic.

---

Abilities, Skills, and Perks List:

Ember[5MP]: Fires a ball of flames at the target. Inflicts Fire damage and has a 5% chance to inflict Burn.

Piercing Light[20AP): Only usable with a Light Affinity equipped. Coating their blade with holy light, the Player slashes an X like sigil in the air or on their target. Then, stabbing their blade into the sigil, they break the seal to fire a large torrent of light rushing forward like a thrusting spear. Deals Light damage and inflicts Defense Down. MP Cost: 40MP.

---

Fucking finished! Whew, I'm beat. Got work in the morning, dammit.

The FoF Arc is done! Next, we have the aftermath of the attacks, some things that had been going during the events, and hospital visits. Not to mention the trip to Forever Fall is coming up. Will Jaune be able to prove to Ren he has what it takes to win this endless game? Or only prove he doesn't have the will to make an impacting difference?

Volume 4 is only a week away people! Boy, am I hype!

So, how was the Friends of Faunus arc? Was it any good? I know there were some bits that I could have done better, but time restraints be a damn. Let me know how it worked out to you.

Read and Review! It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.