Residuum

Blood 1.3

iii


The girl jumped off the Grimm, grabbing her partner and launching off with a rocket-propelled burst from her hammer. Her excitement was a stark contrast to the resigned look on the boy's face. The two landed behind the group, near the relics.

"Damn it, Nora," the boy said, causing the girl to let out a guilty chuckle. She grabbed a relic from the pile, dancing and singing as if she hadn't just had a joyride on an extremely dangerous Grimm. Everybody looked at her in disbelief.

"Did that girl just ride here on a Deathstalker?" Blake asked. The group looked back at the Deathstalker which was slowly rising off the ground as it saw more potential prey.

"Nora!" the boy said, "You can't keep doing that."

"Sorry Ren," she said, sticking out her tongue.

"There isn't any point in sticking around," Weiss said, "We all have our relics, let's not get into any unnecessary fights."

Jaune, making eye contact with his partner, nodded at her. Pyrrha ran over and grabbed a relic for the two of them. The Nevermore was getting closer and closer, but was still far enough away for the group to have some breathing room. The Deathstalker on the other hand was already readying to charge at them.

Nora took aim at the beast, firing her rockets at it, pink explosions causing it to shriek and back off a bit but the damage was superficial at best.

"I don't think we can avoid a fight with that thing chasing us," Blake said, eyeing the giant creature with apprehension. Jaune eyed it, recalling what he knew about them. Qrow hadn't really talked in length about them but Jaune had run into these Grimm before. It hadn't been pleasant; they were hard to pin down long enough to turn and required a fair bit more blood for his ability to have any effect on them, but it could be done. Now that he had some formal training, it would probably be easier than before.

"I'll lead it off," Jaune said, "I can lose it in the forest."

"What, by yourself?" Yang asked, thinking he was joking.

"Jaune, you can't," Pyrrha started, but he just shook his head.

"We don't have time," he said, drawing Reaper, "I can't do anything against that Nevermore, but nobody can fight in a forest like I can."

"It's reckless!" Pyrrha argued, "We can all fight together, it's much safer."

"She's right," Ruby agreed, "What if you get hurt, or worse?"

"I know what I'm doing," Jaune snapped at them irritably, making Ruby flinch slightly. Pyrrha just gave him a hard stare, her gaze tinged with agitation.

"Go, now!" Jaune said, not giving them another chance to argue. He charged at the Deathstalker, deftly dodging it's stinger as he hopped past it, dragging his blade against it's armor to grab its attention. The Grimm turned to him, finding an isolated target and gave chase as the blond disappeared into the forest.

"Pyrrha?" Ruby asked, but the redhead just shook her head in anger.

"I have to go," she said roughly, "I can't let Jaune fight a Deathstalker alone."

"The Nevermore's here!"

The group watched as the Grimm let out another screech, flapping it's wings and showering them with its deadly feathers. They all scattered, jumping out of range of the feathers as they embedded into the ground.

Pyrrha grit her teeth as she looked between the Nevermore and the forest that her partner had disappeared into. Yang noticed and was quick to address the girl.

"Look," she said, getting Pyrrha's attention, "Let's just take care of this beast as fast as we can. Then we can all go after that bullheaded idiot."

"How will we get up there?" Ren asked, not one to let someone fight by themselves. Pyrrha looked up at the Nevermore that was circling around to come at them once more and then to the feathers that it had shot at them.

She ran over to a feather, jumping onto it's hardened shaft which bent back with the force she put on it. Grabbing onto it near the tip, she pulled it back as far as she could, sticking her spear into the ground to leverage as additional pulling weight and to help stick her to the ground as she aimed carefully. Once she pulled her spear out of the ground, the feather snapped back, shooting the girl into the air like a bullet right at the unsuspecting Nevermore.

Yang whistled appreciatively. Eager to try it as well, the blonde ran over to the feathers to simulate Pyrrha's slingshot stunt for herself.

"Huh, guess she isn't a champion for nothing," Nora said, clearly impressed. Grinning, she went after Yang.

"I can send a couple up as well," Weiss said, creating a giant glyph on the floor that Ruby and Blake took advantage of. Waving her rapier, the two of them launched after the Nevermore, follow their classmates before them.

"We can use the feathers," Ren said to her, "If you would be so kind as to shoot them."

"Of course," she replied, and Ren jogged over to the dark plumes of the Nethermore. He struck them with the palms of his hand, displacing them one by one from the ground as Weiss took command of them with her glyphs. With a few waves of her rapier, her glyphs launched the feathers back at the Grimm, similar to how she had done her allies.

As his allies dealt with the Nevermore, Jaune ran through the forest, ducking and weaving through the trees and branches with practiced ease as the Deathstalker just rammed right through them. He was waiting for the right moment, the right time to give the Grimm enough pause so he could make his attack.

When he saw the chance approach, Jaune slashed at his arm with his aura turned off, ignoring the pain as his blood began flowing freely. He activated the gear mechanism, letting Reaper open up to the scythe that it was and swung with enough might that he could cut down a tree of the right size. With the momentum of his swing, the tree fell towards him. Leaping out of the way, Jaune watched as the tree landed on the Deathstalker, blinding it just long enough for Jaune to move out if it's line of sight.

He held his breath and stayed as still as possible as the Grimm looked around carefully for its lost prey. When it turned away from where he hid, Jaune leapt out at it, swinging his arm and splashing it with the blood still running from his self-inflicted wound. It screeched as if burned, flailing around wildly in pain.

It wasn't enough blood to turn it but enough to disable it which was what the blond had intended. He swung Reaper upwards in an arc, stabbing the blade of the scythe underneath the Deathstalker which he knew was its weak spot.

The blade went all the way through the Grimm's body, erupting out of the top. Seeing it in its death throes, Jaune let out a sigh of relief, slumping slightly. He had done it himself, just like he always had. The young Hunstman-in-training activated his aura, allowing it to begin healing the wound on his arm.

Now he could make his way back to his friends, to his partner and show her that she had worried for nothing. He had killed a Grimm of this size, of this strength all by himself. That would surely impress them.

It had been too early to relax.

The Grimm's thrashing caught him unawares, it's stinger catching him with its blunt side, striking his head and sending him flying backwards. He struck a tree and fell to the ground, dazed and almost passed out.

He felt something wet drip down from his head and his vision went blurry. Jaune couldn't make sense of anything, everything was spinning as he struggled to stay awake. Barely catching sight of the dead Grimm, he began crawling towards it, hoping to get to his weapon. If any other Grimm came… why had he gotten careless?

He felt his vision going black. No… he had to get up. How much time had passed? Surely other Grimm would be here soon.

"Jaune!"

He barely heard it, someone calling his voice. He couldn't speak, couldn't get up.

"Jaune?"

"Whoa, look, it's the Deathstalker!"

Yang's voice.

"It's… dead. He actually killed a Deathstalker by himself."

Blake. Disbelieving.

"There!"

Hammer girl. Nora?

"Jaune? Are you… oh my God, Jaune!"

Pyrrha? Pyrrha was here. She would help him, right?

Jaune embraced the darkness.


Notes: This one clearly demonstrates Jaune's superiority in fighting against Grimm. He has experience, but he is also predisposed to fighting them, since he can basically nullify them with his blood. And we learn a little bit more about the ability itself: the bigger or stronger the Grimm is, the more blood is required for Jaune to turn it. But even a little bit of blood is enough to incapacitate the Grimm.

The Deathstalker's thrashing caught Jaune unawares; the blow to the head he took completely dispelled his aura (which, if you remember, is new to him) and almost knocked him out.

Finally, there are a few hints in this scene that are relevant to future scenes. I don't think anyone will catch them exactly, but feel free to try.

Cheers, and leave a review with your thoughts!

knuckz