Author's note: I would like to apologize for the lack of updates, I've been sick for a week and I start courses again today. I'm sure that early in the semester I'll be able to update pretty often, but I know it'll slow down towards the approach of summer. This chapter was a pain in the ass to write, and I know I used too many cliches in here, but with writer's block, you gotta make do with what you got. I hope you people enjoy the chapter, despite how terrible my writing is, and remember that feedback that is super critical helps me improve.
"Alright, let's start from the beginning, what happened when you got off the plane?" Ozpin asked.
"First, what do you know about Devil grimm?" Jaune warily asked the headmaster.
"Those are just legends, Mister Arc," Ozpin smiled, taking a sip from his mug to hide the worried look in his eyes.
"Sir, with all due respect, you and I both know that's not true," Jaune sternly said, "Please, tell me what you know."
Ozpin took a deep breath, calming his nerves before speaking. "As far as I know, they are incredibly powerful and dangerous grimm, having both sentient thought and powerful aura. The Devil grimm were sealed by powerful ancients whose descendants carry their power today."
"Then you know of my lineage, don't you?"
"Beltran Arc, the first of the Arc family, the legendary knight and the first to slay a Devil grimm, Bedlam," Ozpin repeated Yves's words to him.
"Alright, now I can tell you what I found," Jaune started recalling the events of his mission, "The first few days were uneventful, it's what you'd expect to find outside the walls of a kingdom, random packs of grimm and a whole lot of nothing. But it was on the fourth day of the mission when Ash and I got to the source of the 'bursts of power' that the scientists have been picking up."
Jaune walked into the clearing, scroll in hand and his companion at his side. "This is where it's marked on the map, I'm sure," the knight thought out loud as he looked around in confusion. Unsure of what was supposed to happen, he called the one name that came to mind, "Bedlam, show yourself!"
Waiting for a while, Jaune jumped as he heard the rustling of the trees in the wind. Shrugging it off as nothing, Jaune started to walk in the direction of Vale's outpost, which was just a few miles from where he stood. He stopped as he saw the red eyes of an ursa at the edge of the clearing. The knight readied his sword and shield, preparing for a small scrimmage before noticing that the creature wasn't alone. All around, he was surrounded by grimm, some of which he's seen and some he had never seen before.
"That's a dangerous name to be calling out in the open like this," he heard a chilling voice whisper into his ear, as if the source of it was directly behind him.
Turning around, he watched as the grimm that surrounded him turn to dust, converging into a spot in the clearing. The air turned cold as Jaune sensed an enormous amount of aura coming from where the dust was gathering. The darkened particles of the grimm cleared, revealing a door. It had an intricate design carved into it and the handle was adorned by a multitude of gems and minerals.
Anxiety filled his stomach as he watched the handle slowly turn, waiting for whatever monstrosity the door hid to come out and attack him. The door creaked as it swung open, but what it had revealed left Jaune in shock. "Beltran! It's been far too long, old friend," a young looking man dressed in a blue hood waltzed from the portal and gave the knight a rather friendly hug, "how long has it been? Six thousand, sixty five hundred years? You haven't aged a day!"
"Um, who are you?" Jaune looked at the man in confusion.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten," the man visibly looked hurt by Jaune's statement, "It's me, Bedlam, you know, Devil grimm, one of the most powerful mages on Remnant."
"You're Bedlam? My dad told me that our ancestor defeated you!"
"Is that what the rumor he's been spreading all these years?" Bedlam said with a confused look on his face, "That's not very nice is it, and after all that I've done for him and his family. I mean the special power, and the stamina to hold all that power nonetheless."
"Bedlam, it's been about seven thousand years since you've met my ancestor. Beltran's dead, I'm his descendant, Jaune Arc," the boy explained, despite the strange situation.
"Oh, that explains the misinformation. I swear, you humans have a strange tendency of messing up information," Bedlam rambled, "I mean one day, you're the best friend of a very famous knight, and the next, you wake up from a nap and his descendant thinks you were killed. By the way, how's the shield power thing? I know it's incomplete, but how has it been doing for your family?"
"Well, uh, we're still alive, I guess that's something," Jaune hesitantly answered, "and what do you mean 'incomplete'?"
"Well the thing is, when Beltran came to me, he wanted the power to protect," the hooded man explained, "reason being was because my family wasn't too fond of humans. Anyway, because I had such a short amount of time, I could only give him an enchanted sword, forged from the tooth that I knocked out of my brother's mouth, an incomplete power to protect himself and a couple ornaments I enchanted, you know, some stuff that I could find around the house."
"I don't see how it's incomplete, I've been able to hold off hordes of grimm by myself," Jaune argued trying to defend the man's work, "it's even protected me against a large explosion."
"It's supposed to be the ultimate defense, something that my brothers can't break," Bedlam whined as he paced back and forth, "activate your power and I'll show you."
"Um alright, what are you- Ow! What the hell, man?!" as soon as Jaune called on his semblance, he heard a loud shattering sound as Bedlam's fist connected with the side of his face.
"You heard it too, right? The shattering; if I can break through it, that means it won't stop my brothers' attacks," Bedlam sternly explained. "I keep sending an observer to bring me back some data, but they never return, but you brought him with you!" the hooded man affectionately rubbed the snow leopard's head, "I keep sending a cat to find and keep tabs on your family every so often, but they never come back. I can see why, they get so attached."
"You sent Ash?!" Jaune's jaw dropped.
"Of course, how else do you think a kitten would survive the journey to find you?" Bedlam explained, "I'll find a kitten, give it a rather good amount of aura and send it off to find you, but I didn't expect it to change into a larger feline species."
"That would explain Ash acting more like a cat than a predator," Jaune noted, recalling the time he spent raising the feline. "Anyway, what do we do about this incomplete power?"
"Luckily for you, I've spent the last several millennia carefully crafting the ultimate shield for your family," he said before disappearing back into the door.
"Hmm, that's a Devil grimm?" Jaune looked to Ash in confusion, "I expected some kind of giant monster, not some overly friendly dust mage."
"You're actually correct about that," Bedlam said as he stuck his head out of the door, "my brothers and I are monsters. Devil grimm are colossuses of pure power and destruction who want nothing more than to rule over humans."
"You don't look like a monster."
"I'm the same as my brothers I am a monster, but because of Beltran, I no longer have the need to feed off of negative emotions," the man answered. "You know, he was my first friend, the first human to ever talk to me. He's the reason why I want to help humanity survive. I've gained more than just power from the overflowing prosperity of humans, I've also gained a sense of humanity. A soul, if you could call it that."
"Over the centuries, my family has been called protectors," Jaune put a hand on the man's shoulder as a friendly gesture, "it's because of you and what you've done for my family that the Humanity was able to last this long. I thank you for that."
"Thank you, Jaune. You have no idea how much that means to me," Bedlam smiled.
"You may be a Devil Grimm, but what you are doesn't define who you are," Jaune reassured the man. "There are humans that can be considered monsters, but from what I can tell and what you've done, you're more human than those people."
"If you're ready, I can give you the completed power now, but I have to warn you, it's going to hurt. A lot."
"I'm ready, let's do this," Jaune confidently said as he braced himself.
"Uh, you should step inside my home first," Bedlam suggested, "there are too many creatures of darkness in the area, and doing this now will make you too vulnerable for me or the cat to protect."
Jaune silently agreed, cautiously stepping through the door shaped portal. After stepping through, he found what seemed to be a living room, complete with couches and a coffee table. "You weren't kidding when you said 'home'," Jaune muttered as he took a seat.
"This won't feel pretty," Bedlam said, pulling a glowing vial out of his pocket. "This is the first time a semblance has even been altered, so I'm not entirely sure what will happen, but I'm sure it'll work."
"Great to know," Jaune nervously said as he took the vial, "so, how is this supposed to work?"
"I'm not really sure," Bedlam shrugged, "Just open it and see what happens."
Following the instructions, Jaune warily uncorked the vial to find no reaction. Staring at the glow, the knight slowly brought it to his mouth. "Maybe I should drink it?" he suggested.
"Wait, hold on," Bedlam grabbed Jaune's wrist, "I should take notes; I mean this is the first time a semblance will be altered."
Sighing after the hooded mage returned with a notepad, Jaune swiftly drank the substance as if it were a shot of alcohol. "I feel fine," he said as he made a quick inspection of his body, "It wasn't so-"
"Jaune!" was the last thing he remembered hearing as his senses faded and his body keeled over.
During the report, the headmaster recalled the events that ran concurrent to this point in Jaune's mission.
"Vale, come in, this is the outpost 17," the soldier frantically spoke into the radio, "We need reinforcements!"
"Outpost 17?! Outpost 17, please come in, reinforcements are on their way!" Ozpin screamed into the microphone. Turning to His platinum haired assistant, he ordered, "Contact Ironwood and get reinforcements from Atlesian outpost 14!"
Before Glynda could follow her orders, several bloodcurdling screams could be heard from the receiver followed by the sounds of flesh, clothes and armor being ripped apart. "No, no, no!" Ozpin grew louder with each repetition while Glynda stayed silent.
"Keep your voice down, headmaster," a distorted voice came from the radio, "you might wake the resting soldiers."
The usually calm man let out a deep growl at the taunt, "Who are you, why are you doing this and what the hell do you want?"
"It's too soon for you to know, but I will tell you who I am," the voice came again, "I am the one to usher in a new war, and out of the ashes, humanity will rise to a new Remnant."
With that, the line went dead. "What are your orders sir?" Glynda cautiously asked her superior.
"Contact Atlesian outpost 14," Ozpin answered in a low and shaky voice, "tell them to find Jaune Arc, we need him back in Vale."
"Very well, Ozpin," Glynda turned and exited the room.
Ozpin turned his chair to face the window. He closed his eyes as the old memory came to him once more. An old woman sat him down onto her lap. 'Mother,' he thought.
'I will tell you one story before bed time,' he recalled her smiling ever so lovingly. 'This is the story of the time before the kingdoms, when the world was covered in darkness. Mankind fought every day to survive, but they were ruled by the evil so much stronger than they. Ancients, creatures of darkness who gained immense power through consuming the souls of humans.'
'Only the shield can protect from their attacks and only the sword can harm them. Only the spear can reach them and only the scythe can reap them. These are the tools of the great warrior, bestowed to him by war and chaos incarnate. Only the successors can wield these tools against the ancients. The warrior who possesses the sword and shield has wandered this world, protecting the unprotected and tending the land. The spear had been lost in the ages, but the last known to wield it was akin to the statue of a god. The scythe was destroyed in the final battle against the darkness, but only one of great skill can even touch the scythe.'
'According to the legend of the people who live outside the kingdoms, these ancient creatures, demons as they would call them, would rise again to reclaim the world. The owners of these tools can stop them, but like his tools, the warrior and the successors has been lost.'