Author's note
Finally, one of the chapters that I have been just longing to write. This one is going to have a fight that I have been working on for a while and am very excited about.
Before the chapter starts in earnest though I wish to thank all those who have commented and favorited this story, such things are what help give extra motivation to write.
More author notes at the bottom, but for now let's get back to the story.
Chapter 5. Battle of the Horsemen
"This is going to be interesting." Jaune thought as he approached the Headmaster's office.
He wasn't stupid, Jaune had no doubt about Ozpin being aware of his status as a Horseman. That man knew more about what was going on in this part of the world than most politicians did, and even more about what went on in the school. Which left one very important question.
Why did Ozpin want to talk to him?
Ascending the tower and eventually arriving at the empty space inside the massive clock mechanism that served as the bespectacled man's office Jaune entered without the nervousness that most others would have. Ozpin was there, peering over the arched and interlocked fingers of his hands, as was Goodwitch, Port, and Oobleck.
"Hello Mr. Arc, how nice of you to join us for this little chat." Ozpin said with a tone that rested between monotone and friendliness. "I take it you know why you're here."
"Well since none of the students have gone missing, yet, I can't say that I do." Jaune replied, inwardly smirking at the deepening scowl on Goodwitch's face.
"Mr. Arc, the Headmaster has shown us a rather…disturbing bit of footage from an assignment you were a part of in Forever Fall earlier today. Care to explain how you transformed into this?" Goodwitch asked as she shows him a freeze frame of Jaune in his Chaos Form. Specifically of him ripping off the head of the King Taijitu.
Jaune put on a 'pondering' face for a brief moment, then said. "No."
Goodwitch's expression didn't change outwardly, but Jaune could feel the increased chill of her glare.
"Mr. Arc, what you did is unbelievable. You changed form at will, and it was clearly not a semblance or natural skill. So how did you do it?" Port said, his normal jovial tone lost to the seriousness of the situation.
"Ozpin knows, don't you Headmaster." Jaune asked rhetorically with a smirk.
"One of the Four. One of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Is that about it, Mr. Arc?" Dr. Oobleck asked, drawing everyone's attention.
"How in the nine hells did you know that?" Jaune asked with a straight face, his Horseman features becoming more prominent with his agitation. Ozpin he could understand knowing about the Horsemen, but Oobleck was another matter.
"The symbol on your face matches one I have come across in some of the oldest legends of the world, the powers you display are similar to some stories of the same source, and you have shown an almost uncanny insight into history. It seems, at times, like you were there in battles waged decades ago." Oobleck pointed out, having been repeatedly stunned at the sheer level of detail that the young Arc could supply at times.
Jaune simply leaned back, his eyes sweeping over the group gathered before he settled on smirking at Ozpin. "The most annoying thing about old legends, is how often they're true. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse have existed since ancient times, and have been the end or remaking of several worlds. They decided to pass on and leave behind their power and knowledge for the next Horsemen to use. The memories and experience of every Arc that has been the Horseman War is available to me, in addition to the millennia of experience of the original War." Jaune, not feeling like giving another full explanation, gave the short one.
The teachers struggled to process this, while Ozpin regarded the young man with an impassive gaze.
"How many…?" Goodwitch trailed off, not able to truly finish the question.
"Hundreds. But it will be some time before I can utilize the knowledge to its fullest application." Jaune answered.
"Thank you Mr. Arc, that is all." Ozpin said.
Jaune regarded his Headmaster for a moment, but strode away anyway. The teachers were watching him, he could feel it. But their gazes were averted when Jaune decided to 'flex' his power, forcing everyone within a kilometer of him to feel the otherworldly power of a Horseman. Goodwitch, as a person who utilized an ability as close to magic as there came in this world, was especially receptive of this power, and felt traits that others couldn't. It was ancient, overwhelming, and had a degree of malevolence that was intermixed with more positive and protective traits. It was a fire to destroy and a light to protect.
Then, just as suddenly as it started in ended. The Aura of Uneasiness was an ability that had served Jaune well over the years, it made many would-be opponents end their efforts against him.
Ozpin was frowning at Jaune's retreating back, but smiled when he looked down to his open scroll and re-read the message sent to him earlier.
I will be dropping by to assess my former student, I would like to face him in your combat class so that his peers can gain a better grasp of Jaune's abilities. If this is not possible then an excursion to the forest will suffice.
From: M. Mortis.
Ozpin was somewhat worried, but he knew that this was a fight that he would definitely want to see.
Back with Jaune, he reached the main school building and found the rest of Team JNPR as well as the entirety of Team RWBY waiting.
"Jaune, was that you just now?" Ruby asked, still shaking somewhat from the Aura of Uneasiness.
"Yeah, sorry about that. That ability was one created by one of my predecessors a few centuries ago." Jaune explained, feeling a touch of honest regret.
"What was the purpose, to scare and threaten little children?" Weiss interjected, she had been unnerved by the Aura as well but was trying to play it off.
Now Jaune regretted nothing, and shifted a blank glare at the heiress. "It was originally designed to be used as a support ability. I can only use it to a rudimentary degree, but previous masters of the ability, which had been dubbed the Aura of Uneasiness, could selectively affect only enemy forces."
"And in doing so give their side an advantage." Ren hypothesized aloud.
"That's right…you guys are taking this rather well. Dare I ask why?" Jaune was genuinely puzzled by this, as he had expected hostility from them when they learned of what he was.
"You're still you, and that's all that matters Jaune." Ruby piped up.
Jaune could only look at her incredulously, but then began to chuckle when he realized just how simple naïve innocence made things.
"So…What else can you do?" Nora asked, her patience having finally given out. Ren had been surprised that she had shown such restraint, but Nora was still Nora.
Jaune smirked, he rarely got to brag about what he could do. But, while starting to walk towards the cafeteria, he knew that he should keep a few of his abilities concealed for trump card purposes. "While I am no master of any weapon yet I am a natural with most. Swords, spears, firearms, even scythes are all fair game for me. The battle experience of my predecessors making me a fast study for those weapons."
"So you just piggyback on what they achieved?" Pyrrah's almost offended tone was somewhat comical to Jaune.
"Not quite. It's like if you develop muscle memory for something and then go without using it for years. The motions are already there, but I still have to practice with them to make them viable in combat." Jaune explained.
"What about hand to hand?" Yang's voice carried her usual playfulness, and once again she was posing herself to try and tempt Jaune's eyes.
"Same thing, a fair number of previous Wars were quite adept at martial arts. I have dabbled in them for versatility purposes but I am not a dedicated hand to hand fighter." Came Jaune's response, once again impressing Yang with his refusal to take her bait.
"Any other notable skills?" Most of the group was surprised that Blake volunteered a question at all, but Jaune masked his shock with a grin.
Bringing his right hand up so that its back was directed towards his face Jaune stretched his fingers out and, to Weiss's utter shock, manifested a glyph in his palm. The lines were a deep crimson, and while Weiss used a snowflake motif for her glyphs Jaune's were more angular. A ring created by a pair of circles served as the perimeter and was decorated with an odd script, while inside the ring was a star of at least ten points, and finally there was a symbol in the center that looked like a horse skull as seen from above.
When this small glyph formed in Jaune's hand another, larger glyph formed in front of the group. Then Jaune did something that almost made Weiss's brain short circuit, he sunk his hand into the smaller glyph and caused a massive clawed hand to emerge from the larger.
For Weiss this was impossible. No glyph that she knew of allowed for such things, and as far as she could tell Jaune was not a dedicated glyph user. What happened next would be something that would stay in the memories and stories of Team RWBY forever.
"Teach me how to do that." The young heiress demanded of the Horseman.
Jaune was visibly surprised, but everyone else was flabbergasted. Even Lie Ren, the man who had mastered stoicism to the point that he could put up with Nora for hours on end (not an entire day however, not even a stony faced saint could manage that), had his jaw nearly on the floor.
Regaining his composure Jaune simply smiled. "I'm not that good of a teacher, but I can loan you a few books that really helped me along." Weiss was blushing at the sheer amount of pride that she had to swallow right now, but she was always one to try and improve her glyphs.
Jaune opened another glyph in his palm, this time he flexed his fingers out to enlarge the circle to the point where it hovered in the air with a diameter of about three feet. And again when Jaune reached his arm out it sank into the glyph and seemed to disappear. Rummaging around for a few seconds Jaune seemed to be searching for something, then gave a small 'ah ha' and pulled his arm back holding a large leather bound book.
"This book was written by Merlyn Gladstone and has been in the possession of the Horsemen for centuries." Jaune said, noticing when he said Gladstone's name Weiss's eyes bulged out.
"Merlyn Gladstone? The Merlyn Gladstone? The Merlyn Gladstone who created glyphs and wrote the first glyph identification charts?" Weiss almost squealed, Gladstone had been a pioneer of his day and his works had gone on to inspire hundreds of others to add to and refine his original works with glyphs. She actually did let out a small gasp and squeal when she opened the well preserved tome and saw the signature at the bottom of the first page. Most of Gladstone's works had been ravaged by time and only pages and snippets still existed in most of the world's museums, but this book was not only whole but the signature matched the few surviving signatures of the famed glyph writer. Ignoring the sheer age that it implied, the fact that it was a work of Merlyn Gladstone made it priceless. "Where did you get this?"
"My mentor, who mentored Gladstone, was given this copy and then gave it to one of my predecessors to assist them in the use of glyphs." Jaune explained.
"How old is your mentor?" Weiss almost screeched in shock.
"Be careful how you answer that War." A deep voice came from behind the group.
Both teams turned to find a…person, if the term could be applied here. The figure was humanoid and about average in height, his hair was almost an oily black, his skin was a pale lavender color and seemed stretched over the toned muscle beneath. The most disturbing thing about him was the attire. His clothing was almost a cross between warrior and priest, his legs were coated in purple plate armor with silver accents, his top was a skin tight black muscle shirt that had what looked like the bones of two large hands wrapping around his torso and serving as armor. Belt separating the two had a number of fabric lengths that looked like they had once been robes, one descended from the buckle and two wider ones formed the back and together they left the front and sides of the thighs open.
The two parts that really stood out were the pair of folded, bladed weapons on his thighs and the skull mask that obscured his face. Ruby noted how the weapons seemed to look like scythes, but she averted her gaze quite quickly when she looked into the figure's eyes. His eyes weren't hostile, but they were unfriendly. The fact that they were also orange and glowed didn't help.
"Well, isn't this a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you hear mentor, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Jaune asked with a small bow towards the smaller figure.
"I decided to drop by and see your progress, I do hope that you haven't been slacking. For your sake." The smaller man threatened.
"We have combat class soon, I think that Goodwitch might make an exception and allow you to watch." Jaune said, scratching his chin. If it weren't for the mask then both teams would have seen the small smirk.
"Well then, I guess I'll see you there War." He said, walking away.
"See you there, Death." Jaune said, making the other seven look back to the smaller figure as he was identified. Jaune then began his own walk to combat class, the others falling back to gossip.
"You don't think Jaune was serious when he said that name do you?" Ruby asked, she had made the simple connection that if Jaune was War, and War was the cosmic concept of War, then by calling the other person Death that meant that he was really…
"Based on what we've seen so far I wouldn't doubt it. But still, for that person to be Death itself is almost too much to process." Pyrrha said, rubbing her upper arms to try and rid them of the chill that Death had brought with him.
"It wouldn't surprise me if it was really the grim reaper, he did have a bit of a bone fetish going on. And those weapons looked like folded up scythes to me." Yang said, trying to play it cool but feeling her heart still hammering at the fact that she had just looked Death in the face and listened to him have a civil conversation with one of her friends.
The rest of the chatter was centered around why he was here, but the answer came when Teams RWBY and JNPR entered Goodwitch's classroom. Death was there on the arena stage with his arms folded, glaring at Jaune as he entered.
"Mr. Arc, how good of you to finally join us. The Headmaster has authorized your mentor to fight you today, when you are ready please enter the arena." Goodwitch commanded.
"He is always ready for a fight, or he should be in any case." Death said, uncrossing his arms and letting his hands rest on his scythe handles.
Jaune didn't answer verbally, he brought his arms up, crossed them in front of his face, and when he flung them back to his sides a small inferno sprang up over him. When the fire cleared Jaune was garbed in his full battle gear, even his sword. The most interesting change was Jaune's natural features, the symbol on his face glowed red, his eyes glowed white, and his hair was now bone white and seemed to have its own slight luminescence. With a quick bound Jaune was flying over the gathered students, five meters up and four times that in distance he sailed until he landed on stage. Everyone, save Death, was stunned at this. They had felt that action had been done without aura, it was pure muscular strength.
Goodwitch knew enough that it was in her best interests to vacate the stage, this was a fight that she knew was about to start right out of hand. Death and Jaune now locked eyes, glowing orange meeting glowing white. Death pulled both scythes from his sides and opened them, Jaune pulled Chaoseater down and held it at the ready. For a moment neither moved, but Death was always the more patient. Jaune charged forward at speeds that rivaled Ruby's, but he wasn't quick enough to pierce Death's defense. One scythe moved to deflect Jaune's thrust while the other swung around to try and stab Jaune's side. But the scythe point met Chaoseater's flat as Jaune pulled the sword back to intercept. With his free hand Jaune attempted to punch Death, but the other Horseman simply leaned back to avoid it. Turning his lean into a backflip at the same time Jaune jumped back the two were again in a stare down. The rest of the students could only gape at what they had just witnessed, the entire engagement had lasted all of two seconds and it took several moments for anyone to fully realize what had just happened.
Jaune charged again, this time opting for a horizontal backhand swing. Death being too tall to duck under it jumped up, and when he was at his leap's apex he pulled out Redeption and took aim. But once again Jaune used some unarmed combat and Death found the large metal coated fist impacting the muzzle of the pistol, knocking it off course, and continuing until in impacted Death's stomach. The smaller Horseman flew up and was embedded several feet into the ceiling. When Jaune's fist made contact the shockwave was like listening to a single low note on a high powered subwoofer, the shockwave was enough to actually shatter nearby lightbulbs.
So when Death landed in a crouch and then stood with no visible damage or fatigue it shocked the audience. If anything, Death was more annoyed than injured. And Jaune was about to feel the consequences of annoying Death. This time Death charged and when Jaune tried to strike him Death simply flipped forward and almost stomped both feet into Jaune's face, but Jaune managed to raise his hand and block the kick. However he wasn't able to stop the scythe tip from sinking into his left shoulder.
Using the arm that Jaune used to block Death spring boarded away and had to start back peddling when the Crossblade started grinding away at the location he had just been in a moment before, but this was just the beginning of Jaune's counter attack. When Death moved away from the Crossblade Jaune fired his Abyssal chain, the tip buried itself in the floor a few meters behind Death after grazing his thigh in his attempt to dodge it. Pulling himself towards Death Jaune swung Chaoseater with his still injured left arm. The combination of injured leg, off balance from a dodge, and the wide area covered by Chaoseater's sheer length made it a miracle that Death only suffered a three centimeter deep cut to his chest. In an impressive display of reflexes Death had thrown himself back to land on the floor, if he hadn't then he would have likely been in pieces right now.
Now the two had gotten fully serious. Death had combined his scythes into one and Jaune had stowed his chain. Both Horsemen now traded blows at high speed, almost three per second, and each collision of weapons caused massive damage to the stage on which they stood. Until Jaune, gathering his strength, slammed downward with all his might. Death held his conjoined weapon parallel to the floor and fought the sheer bulk of Jaune's strength, the collision of weapons shattering the ground beneath them. With a quick sidestep Death slid from beneath Chaoseater and slashed at Jaune's right side with the smaller blade at the base of his scythe.
Jaune whirled around, Chaoseater singing as it carved through the air towards the smaller Horseman. Death flipped back out of the way, the tip of Chaoseater passing close to him, and swung his scythe around to try and carve up Jaune's face. Again a quick backwards pull of Chaoseater brought the large sword up to block the strike, and Jaune followed this defensive move with a small pivot on his forward foot to slam the other into Death's chest. Like before the impact was felt by all as a concussive force, and like before Death was sent flying. This time however he separated his weapon and used the blades as brakes to stop his movement.
Death looked up when he heard a pair of distinct sounds, a low squeak of a time-space rupture. A void portal opened before Death and Jaune, entering the one closer to him lunged with Chaoseater. Death, as fast as he was, still received a small gash on his forehead. Which considering that the lunge would have taken off his head, a small gash was a good bargain. But Jaune, now emerging from the void portal was open and exposed. Keeping his hands on the scythe handles Death reared both feet up until his knees reached his chest, and shot them out at Jaune's form as hard as he could.
Whereas Jaune's blows could easily kill a normal Huntsman, against Death they were like biting gnats. Death's blows on the other hand, where each like a full size train hitting you at near supersonic speeds. Jaune's ribs all cracked, his right shoulder dislocated, and he received some whiplash as Death's kick sent him flying into the side of the raised stage where the two Horsemen had started. Jaune was then winded badly when his body crashed through almost two meters of solid cement.
Winded, head spinning, and coughing up blood Jaune stood. His powers quickly knitted the bones of his ribs back together and repaired the damage to his cervical ligaments. By this point Goodwitch was right alongside her students, just trying not to get caught in the crossfire. This was a fight that she was not going to get involved in just yet.
"You still have some strength to you Death." Jaune casually noted, wincing as his shoulder was pulled back into place by the muscle surrounding it.
"You can try and play it cool all you want War, you can't win this fight." Death said simply.
Jaune frowned at this, he had spent years getting kicked around by his mentor. Now he had an opportunity to return the favor, he just had to start pulling all of the mastery he had from his predecessors.
Summoning a glyph Jaune created an energy limb and had the large hand slam down on Death's location. Death neatly sidestepped the attack and realized Jaune was trying to set up another herding maneuver, this time Jaune was using every trick he knew. He came in hard and fast, closing the distance and using the closest quarter's hand to hand combat he had. Jaune, for all his size, was too close for Death to properly use his scythes. Knees, fists, and elbows rained down on Death's face, chest, and belly.
Death, having indulged Jaune enough, dropped his scythes and reciprocated Jaune's efforts. Jaune's size made him a tough opponent for heavier styles, but Death wasn't a heavy fighter. Death struck at Jaune's joints, throat, and face. The strikes to the insides of Jaune's elbows did much to slow him down and the throat punch did wind him, but the assault on his face made retaliation difficult. With a final move Death gave an uppercut to Jaune's upper belly and, with Jaune airborne, summoned his scythes to his hands. In an instant they merged and the large blade plunged into Jaune's belly, and with the downward movement of the scythe Jaune was slammed against the floor.
For most this would have been a fatal injury, but Death knew that Jaune would be fine. His healing was already hard at work repairing the damage, it would just take some time for it to finish.
The other seven quickly rushed in when it was clear that the fight was over. Goodwitch swept her crop through the air and repaired the classroom, but she found that she could do nothing about the floor where Death's scythes dug into.
"Death!" Jaune said, pulling himself into a seated position. Death turned to address the young Horseman. "Next time, don't hold back so much. I know full well you could have beaten me several times over during this fight."
Death was silent for a moment, then simply said. "Yes, I could have." And strode away, off to whatever errand he had next.
"He was holding back?" was the thought of most of the audience.
Noticing their shock Jaune addressed the gathered students. "He wasn't fighting at anywhere near his full power, I would say that was closer to a quarter of it." He passed out after that, the fight and subsequent healing taking its toll.
Everyone else could only gape at the statement, and Teams JNPR and RWBY could scarcely fathom how powerful the Horsemen were at their best.
Now, to discuss the importance and reasoning behind the chapters thus far. Chapters 1-5 have been, essentially, Act 1. This is the character introduction phase of a story. Chapter 1-Jaune's basic introduction and a small peak of the somewhat strict and harsh tutelage under Death. Chapter 2- Introducing secondary characters and their initial interactions with Jaune and giving a look at Jaune's combat abilities against unskilled opponents. Chapter 3-The initial exploring of the powers Jaune has in relation to the generational powers of War and seeing Jaune's combat abilities against a skilled opponent. Chapter 4-The reveal, where Jaune explains to the others what he is and why he is as powerful as he is. This is where we learn of the nature of the Horsemen's power (in my story anyway) and how Jaune is still learning how to properly use them. Chapter 5- A greater insight to the scope and range of powers Jaune has and, most importantly, a fight that proves that while he is powerful, Jaune is not invincible.
Act 2 will start to introduce the antagonists and their agendas, as well as explore the character's development as time progresses.