Wraith

Chapter Seventeen

Beta: Smithrooks

Hollow Victory

Beacon, present day…

Pyrrha was deeply thankful that the portal was nothing like last time.

Where before it had been unimaginable pain that could only be compared to rusty nails carving bloody trenches across her soul, this time the portal was… calm, like warm water gently washing over her spirit, soothing her frayed nerves and calming her troubled thoughts.

All at once, Pyrrha felt herself enter the real world once more, a wave of purple light washing over her until she found herself tumbling into a dimly lit area. At a glance she couldn't tell where exactly, though after a moment of inspection it became clear that she hadn't actually moved much spatially when going through the portal - this must be what the sub-level of Beacon Tower looked like when there was still, well, a tower. The dull green lighting wasn't particularly helpful, but she could make out what looked to be scattered rubble strewn across the floor, as well as a myriad of spiderweb-like cracks running across the ceiling where there appeared to be a hastily covered hole. On the far side of the room was a… coffin? A metal pod of some kind, though she was too far away to see what exactly it contained.

Normally, she would quickly rush to her feet… but she was just so tired. After spending so much time around the sick and twisted version of Jaune that called itself Nihilus she was beginning to build a slight resistance to his semblance, but the call of torpor was an ever-present thing when he was near. Just being near the false lord was a struggle; the poisonous effect of his semblance was like an ocean constantly trying to pull her under the water in an effort to drown her, made all the worse because he wasn't actually trying to do that - it was as natural as breathing to him.

He's still a person though.

That thought had been stabbing at her ever since she'd met the… fragment… in the cave. The crushing realisation that while Nihilus was an utter monster, he was also just a man, with hopes and dreams of his own. This troubling thought was made worse by the fact that Nihilus was literally an older version of her partner, Jaune.

And just a few short minutes ago, Jaune himself had never made that clearer.

She'd been so sure of him when she chose him to be her partner… Jaune hadn't known her, hadn't even the faintest clue about her fame or skill. And yet he'd been kind anyway; sure he had mainly been interested in flirting with Weiss at the time, but that was beside the point. When the Schnee girl had ranted and raved at him for his obliviousness he didn't seem to mind, and when Weiss informed Jaune about Pyrrha's achievements all he'd had to say was 'good for her I suppose?'

But that was wrong… the kind and caring young man that she'd met that day had been corrupted by Nihilus.

She had been slightly startled when Jaune started using fire Dust, but on paper it made sense. Nihilus was an older Jaune, and he seemed to be a master Dust user - masterful enough that it almost seemed magical in nature; she'd never actually seen any Dust on his person. And if Nihilus was a master Dust-mage, then that must mean that Jaune was skilled with Dust as well, right? Perhaps not to the same degree, but still skilled in his own right.

She'd been surprised by the angry and hateful expression that had twisted his face as he immolated the legion of droids pouring down the stairway, but that could be passed off as him finally reaching a breaking point after all the stress of the past few days. Everyone had a limit; perhaps he'd just reached his?

But then they had been surrounded on the surface…

Jaune killed them. He killed them all.

She had been utterly unable to stop him as Jaune murdered dozens, no - hundreds of people in a fit of anger. The way his face twisted so hatefully that he looked like an entirely different person, the utter, all-encompassing rage that twisted his features… that couldn't have been Jaune. The kind boy she knew wouldn't have done that - couldn't have done that.

Nihilus must have done something; he had to have done something.

Jaune had looked so… dead inside, once it finally dawned on him what he'd done. Just a single glance at his blue eyes showed Pyrrha that he hadn't been in total control of his actions, the remorse and crushing sorrow that seeped from him wasn't that of a man pleased with his kills.

The room flared purple again as both Jaune and Nihilus were spat out, the younger Arc male crumpling to the floor silently with a dead look in his eyes while Nihilus stood tall and proud with a deep grin splitting his face.

It was like the monster was pleased with what it had corrupted Jaune into doing.

"Back again?" the Grimm-man cooed, his sickly yellow eyes swivelling around in his skull in frankly dizzying motions. "This time I will take her… yes I will, take the beautiful Amber away…"

How sickening… and to think that she had pitied Nihilus after speaking to the fragment. Now she knew better; he was a monster, a vile beast that derived amusement and joy from the suffering of others.

"Pyrrha…" Jaune croaked quietly from the ground, "Pyrrha, we need to escape…"

The younger Arc reached out his hand towards her, but Pyrrha couldn't help but flinch back and away from his touch. She knew that it wasn't entirely his fault, that Nihilus had done something to him… but Jaune was a killer. A murderer.

But Jaune was right, they did need to escape from Nihilus. He was a sick monster, but he also wasn't terribly skilled at forethought apparently. When they had first went to the other world they didn't move spatially, arriving at the exact same spot they left from. So if that was how the dimension traveling worked, then that must mean that they were now in Beacon, or under it at the very least. Now was easily the best chance they had to escape.

"She's coming!" Nihilus suddenly cackled, yellow eyes wide with delight as he rubbed his hands together. "The hollow one is coming…"

Pyrrha didn't care to find out who Nihilus was talking about; hopefully it was one of those huntresses that wore armour that was somehow immune to his parasitic semblance. Anyone else and they'd die pretty quickly, thus making their chance of escaping much lower.

As luck would have it, one of the armoured hunters did appear. The bulky armour was hard to miss even in the low lighting of the sub-level, the folded red weapon on her back making her intentions clear. "Make this easy," the cold and distorted voice spoke, "just submit yourself to us Jaune."

She knew that Nihilus was Jaune? That raised a few questions, but they'd have to wait for another time. Pyrrha subtly waved her hand towards the huntress, trying to let the woman know that she and Jaune needed a distraction to escape. This was their best bet; when the huntress helped them she and Jaune could finally be free of Nihilus, and then the huntress could defeat him and send him to prison.

The helmeted head of the huntress briefly turned to stare at Pyrrha, the dull black faceplate giving away nothing at all. The moment passed quickly however, the huntress turning back to look at the still madly grinning form of Nihilus.

"Submit?" the robed man asked, tasting the word, "No no no… you give me the chance to choose?" The grin that had been so prominent on his face slipped away like oil over water, a furious snarl locking into place. "I was the monster, the Gleam Eyes! But what was she? A little girl, MY DAUGHTER… you didn't give her a choice! You became hollow, and for what?! This… this SHADOW?!"

The huntress drew her weapon from the small of her back, chipped red paint covering the rifle. In the low light Pyrrha couldn't quite make out what exactly it was, though she could tell it was some kind of sniper rifle and that it obviously transformed into something else - though what exactly, she couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry," the armoured woman whispered, "I… she wasn't meant to be there. It was only meant to be you and Pyrrha… I didn't even know she existed…"

Nihilus snarled, his pale face twisting hatefully. "I took my revenge, and made them all burn!" he stepped closer to the armoured woman, and for a moment Pyrrha was sure that she was going to shoot him, but something held her back… "All but you. I know you, I know that you hate yourself - your soul cannot lie."

The woman raised her red rifle, the weapon pointed squarely between Nihilus' eyes. "I do, but I made a promise - to avenge my father, to avenge my uncle, to avenge Amity… to avenge Yang!"

BANG!

The red rifle snapped back with thunderous recoil, the huge bullet slamming into Nihilus' forehead with enough force to turn his head into a paste if not for aura.

Nihilus' head was thrown backwards. But instead of a grunt of pain or a howl of anger like Pyrrha expected, deep laughter exploded out of the robed man's mouth, belly-shaking laughs of utter amusement so strong that the huntress seemed rooted to the spot.

"How?" she whispered, "Your aura… the bullet…" she seemed to stagger, "I don't understand… what have you done, Jaune?"

"Look at me!" Nihilus cackled with insane glee, "Jaune is dead! I am the Lord of Pain, Sorrow and Hunger. I took the body of Pain and made him mine! I took the soul of Sorrow and bound him to me! The world made me!"

The huntress shook, "Ironwood…" she muttered, "Ozpin…"

Pyrrha had absolutely no idea what either of them were talking about, and frankly she didn't particularly care at this point. Desperately, she signalled to the huntress again; they needed to escape, not have a conversation!

The helmeted woman didn't turn to acknowledge her though. "I understand now. I cannot beat you, not alone…" despite her defeatist words, the voice of the huntress only grew stronger. "But… I can do this!"

In a blur of motion that Pyrrha could hardly follow the huntress raised her rifle again, and in a millionth of a second she took aim and pulled the trigger.

Only this time, she wasn't aiming for Nihilus.

BANG!

The powerful shot echoed through the hall just like before, but this time it was followed by a scream of pain as the round found its mark.

Pyrrha could only gape in shock as Jaune moaned in agony from the high-caliber bullet hole in his shoulder. Why hadn't his aura protected him? No bullet from a gun that small should be able to pierce aura so easily, the round should have been stopped before it even touched Jaune's skin. But despite that, it looked like the bullet had passed right through his shoulder and impacted the stone wall behind him.

Nihilus didn't even glance backwards before he howled in anger, a gust of flame escaping his mouth as he did so. In the blink an eye the false lord fell upon the huntress, his hands scraping and clawing at her armour in a vicious frenzy as he shouted obscenities at her.

Despite her slight aversion to Jaune, Pyrrha quickly moved over to him and looked at the wound in his shoulder. The bullet had indeed passed right through, though how exactly it managed that was a mystery. Jaune was struggling and moaning as he used his now blood-smeared right hand to put pressure on the wound, though his attempts were only making it worse since he was just covering one side of the injury. "Jaune," she muttered, trying to ignore the sound of Nihilus' angry shouts. "Stay still, let me bandage it!"

It wasn't like he'd bleed out from the wound, but if left untreated then it might get infected - or worse, Jaune could exacerbate the wound with his clawing attempts to put pressure on it. Pyrrha didn't exactly have any bandages on her, but she did have the red sash that she wore around her hip. It was a gift from her father; it would be a shame to ruin it like this, but it was red anyway - so it would just get redder, right?

Pyrrha reached down to her hip, her hand only an inch away from grabbing the red fabric.

Something clamped down on her wrist like a vice, the immense pressure instantly making her wince and stop exactly where she was.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Pyrrha let her emerald-green eyes drift to whatever it was that had gotten hold of her. A pale hand graced her sight, the cold white skin of Nihilus striking fear into her heart.

Was this her death? Nihilus sucked people's souls out through his hands, and he'd already gotten a hold of her…

But Pyrrha didn't feel death tugging at her though, she actually felt… better?

The realisation snapped through her; she didn't feel anything! The oppressive weight that had haunted her since she'd met Nihilus in Forever Fall was gone; her aura wasn't being drained away at all...

Pyrrha's gaze snapped to Nihilus' face, wanting - begging for an explanation. Not that she was complaining exactly, but it was just a surprise - her time with the false lord had shown her that his semblance was all encompassing, never faltering and utterly unstoppable.

When her gaze found his face, Pyrrha nearly staggered in shock. He looked so… different! And all from such a small change, too; his golden gaze was gone, the yellow-eyed stare that she was so used to. Instead she found herself looking at two pale blue eyes, clearly blind.

"We need to go!" he snapped, his blind blue eyes staring at her unblinkingly. "Now!"

Pyrrha felt her green eyes snap to the other side of the room; the huntress was there, struggling in vain to pull herself out of a crater in the wall, the fallen stone and masonry having pinned her there from some unknown attack by Nihilus.

The false lord reached out with his free hand, the pale limb locking down on the back of Jaune's now tattered and ragged hoodie. "Come with me Usurper, we're leaving!"

With just a stomp of his foot there was a thunderous crack, and the previously patchy fix on what Pyrrha could only assume was a hole in the ceiling shattered and fell away - sunlight from the surface pouring in less than a moment later.

Pyrrha felt herself be yanked off her feet, only dully noting that Jaune was in a similar position to herself as they were dragged skyward.

"You can't run forever, Jaune!" the huntress yelled, fury and sorrow bleeding into her words. "Someday you'll be caught!"

Nihilus didn't say anything, his pale blue eyes locked skyward as they ascended.

Pyrrha felt her weight shift, her wrist aching as Nihilus passed through the hole in the roof and burst through to the surface.

But Pyrrha only had a second to register that Beacon Tower was literally right next to them, and suddenly the world shattered.

All noise faded, everything becoming dull and distant until they were beyond Pyrrha's perception. The image of Beacon and the clear blue sky vanished too, the world around them becoming a pure, unblemished white. Even Nihilus disappeared, everything leaving until absolutely nothing remained.

Pyrrha recognized this; it was the same as what happened in the tunnel when they first arrived in the other world. "Hello?" she shouted, ignoring Jaune as he sat next to her, a dazed look on his face as he observed his apparently healed shoulder. "Nihilus! Where are you?!"

This was good; the memory, fragment, whatever… could explain what the hell was going on, and what on Remnant Nihilus did to Jaune to make him a murderer.

A quiet feminine giggle from behind her made Pyrrha whirl around.

There he was, the Jaune lookalike sitting in an overstuffed lounge chair as he bounced a little girl on his knee, a joyous smile splitting across his face.

For a second, Pyrrha thought the little girl was just a younger version of herself, an image or phantasm perhaps. But that thought was shattered as she saw the girl's eyes, the two gorgeous violet eyes that looked at the not-Jaune with nothing but love. "Nihilus?"

The man's gaze finally wandered over to Pyrrha, a vaguely amused look on his face. "Hello again Pyrrha and Jaune," he proclaimed, "we have a lot to talk about."


Beacon, many years ago.

Ruby was excited.

No, scratch that. She was super excited!

It had been a week since team RWBY plus Jaune fought Torchwick, and since then things had admittedly been on the dull side of things. But today was going to be great! Professor Goodwitch had finally realised just how badass Pyrrha was, and had decided to stop wasting the champion's time by making her fight single opponents. Instead, Goodwitch had decided to make Pyrrha fight an entire team.

She and the rest of her team were currently walking towards the class now, Yang looking just as interested as Ruby herself was. Weiss and Blake were still excited, but they were being all stiff and aloof as per usual. Gah, didn't they know how awesome this was going to be?!

The news had been floating around the school for about two days now, and everyone in the first year combat class was super psyched to watch the fight. Ruby herself was looking forward to it; not only because Pyrrha was a total beast in a fight, but because it was Jaune's team she was going to be fighting.

Jaune was totally awesome. He was her first friend at Beacon, a nice dude and totally great in a fight! Well, he was now anyway. There was that… accident during initiation that had left him some pretty nasty scars on his face, but when she had finally worked up the courage to ask him about it, Jaune had just said that he had been a total idiot and forgotten to bring his Dust!

Ruby could totally empathise with that. Not that she'd ever forgotten to bring her baby Crescent Rose to something as important as initiation, but she had… on occasion… forgotten to bring ammo. Totally embarrassing to admit, so she had devised a completely foolproof plan should she do it again: claim that she had plenty of bullets, but just say that she was working on technique with her scythe.

But Jaune was a bit funny like that, kind of just floating around school doing his own thing all the time. He was still great to hang around though; he gave the best advice when she was feeling a little down or upset, and he was totally awesome in a fight too.

Fighting him was actually kinda hard. When sparring Jaune attempting a sneak attack was totally pointless, something about him being able to see in every direction all the time despite the fact that he wore that green bandanna around his eyes. It was also hard to deal with how he used Dust, because he tended to just set everything around him on fire or just pin his opponents to the ground using gravity Dust.

Once you got past all that he was a total pushover though, if you managed to close the distance without being cooked in the process then it was pretty simple.

He was a little strange with Dust too; unlike Weiss and the other students that used lots of Dust, Jaune didn't use a weapon or anything to help him - even stranger considering that Ruby knew he had a sword. What had he called it again? Crochet Needle or something, but a sword nonetheless. But he didn't use it, he just waved his hands around like a wizard and poof there was fire!

Actually, maybe she should ask Weiss about it? She was a total know-it-all about Dust and… well, everything really. But she would be able to better explain the difference right?

"Weiss," Ruby chirped, stepping up beside the pale girl. "You're good with Dust, right?"

"What do you mean 'good with Dust'?" the other girl barked, a slightly indignant look on her face. "I'm a Schnee! Dust is literally the reason why my family is so rich."

Well… yeah, but having money doesn't really buy skill. "So how good do you think Jaune is with Dust?"

Blake and Yang slowed down as Ruby asked the question; obviously they were interested too. And why wouldn't they be? Jaune had been a great help to them, both at the docks and when fighting Torchwick in that paladin. It was just an added bonus that he was such a nice guy!

"He uses Dust like a club," Weiss scoffed, her opinion obviously differing from Ruby's. "For him destruction is his aim, to smash through anything in his path with raw power but no actual skill."

Wow… that was harsh. Also not exactly untrue now that Ruby thought about it. Every time Ruby had seen Jaune fight, he hadn't really cared about the level of chaos he created around him, and when he attacked each move was made to obliterate whomever he was fighting. Which was actually a strange dichotomy with his rather laid back and chill personality, now that she thought about it.

"He's not exactly the most graceful of fighters," Blake agreed mildly, "but even you can't deny the raw power and destructive force he brings into a fight, Weiss."

"Perhaps," the heiress muttered as they neared the doors to the combat classroom. "But he still shows a clear lack of control over the immense power of Dust."

Ruby was silent as she led her teammates to their usual seats; Jaune wasn't as bad as Weiss liked to portray him, though she was right in the sense that he fought in a very destructive manner. Maybe Weiss was just snippy because she didn't like the idea of a Dust-mage using Dust in a different way than she did? It wasn't impossible; the theory made even more sense because Weiss liked to use Dust like a scalpel, all finesse and well-placed strikes that minimised her aura use.

"Come on Weiss-cream," Yang grinned, not caring in the slightest for Weiss' indignant squawk at the stupid pun. "Just admit that you're upset because he's better with Dust than you!"

Ruby grinned at that; of course Yang knew that wasn't true, but it was fun irritating Weiss. Seriously, the pale girl could stand to loosen up a little…

"He is not!" Weiss barked, a distinctly unfeminine snarl on her pretty face. "He just batters his way through everything!" She pointed to Yang, "Just like you, brute."

Yang chuckled as all the other students around them started sitting down, Pyrrha and team WASB noticeably absent. "Ah don't be all upset princess, if you ask nicely I'm sure the lady killer will show you a good time with his gravity Dust just like he did with me the other week!"

Ruby cringed at that… Yang still didn't know what exactly would have happened if Jaune screwed that up. When Ruby had spoken to him about it after the fight, the blind boy had seemed to be slightly nervous and apologetic about the end of the fight. She hadn't exactly understood, but then Jaune explained that if he messed up with the gravity Dust then Yang could have been seriously hurt - the type of hurt where you have literally crapped out your own spine and most internal organs.

Yeah… best Yang didn't know about that one. Just let the older girl go on thinking that Jaune totally had that…

The sound of a throat clearing lulled the room into instant silence, the power of the fear that Professor Goodwitch commanded showing through as the elder woman took her place in the centre of the room. "Today we will be having a special match," she announced, "Miss Nikos will be showcasing her skills by fighting the entirety of team WASB."

Ruby couldn't help but squeal in excitement. This was going to be so awesome...

The team in question entered the side of the ring, the four males standing tall and imposingly. The leader, Cardin, had an arrogant smirk on his face as he stared across the arena to where Pyrrha made her way out. Sky and Dove had confidant smiles on their faces - not arrogant like their leader, but just quietly faithful in their abilities.

Jaune was the dichotomy of the team, as his face was kept absolutely blank. The scars on his face only mildly covered by the soft cloth he used to cover his eyes, his countenance neither that of confidence or anxiousness.

"Are all the combatants ready?" Goodwitch asked.

"We're ready," Cardin scoffed, his mace held over his shoulder.

Pyrrha just nodded, her sword and shield held ready.

"Begin!"

The fight started explosively. The moment the professor called to start, Jaune slammed his hands down into the tiled floor, an impressive wall of stone sprouting between his team and Pyrrha.

Ruby could understand why Jaune did this; Pyrrha was a total beast in close quarters. Although the use of the wall was also negated by the fact that Pyrrha was, again, a total beast at range too.

Pyrrha dashed forward, her sword shifting to a spear in an instant as she crossed the arena.

"Fire!" Cardin barked quickly, looking all the part of a commander leading his troops.

Sky and Dove perched their weapons on the wall, the gun barrels built into the sword and halberd blaring into life as short and sharp cracks rang out each time they fired their respective weapons.

Jaune, not having a gun, opted for a different approach however. With a small grunt he punched his stony creation; a fist-sized chunk broke off and rocketed towards Pyrrha.

Ruby couldn't help but grin though; Pyrrha definitely wouldn't be taken out by such a lame attack.

As expected, Pyrrha blocked the plethora of attacks with relative ease. Her dipylon shield flashed as she punted the bullets and stones out of her way, the metal ringing quietly from the attack. In a flash Pyrrha leapt over the hasty barricade, her spear pointed downwards in the perfect position to stab Cardin in the heart.

Cardin was, luckily, wearing armour - so as the spear crashed into his chest the effect on his aura was fairly minimal compared to what such an attack would have done to anyone on RWBY.

The large boy was punted backwards with a grunt, but Pyrrha didn't have time to continue the offensive as she suddenly found a sword speeding towards her left side courtesy of Dove. What would have a been relatively easy thing to block was made infinitely harder as Sky swung his halberd to her legs - together effectively forcing her to choose which to block and which to take with her aura.

Pyrrha, being the champion that she was of course, chose neither of these options. In a feat of acrobatics that Ruby could say with absolute surety would rip her in half, Pyrrha jumped in the air and kicked Sky in the face while also slashing Dove across the chest with Milo.

The two boys staggered backwards, their auras taking a downwards dive from Pyrrha's brutal assault.

The redheaded champion landed on her feet in a guard position directed towards Jaune… who was doing nothing?

Ruby wasn't quite sure, but it looked like Jaune was just standing there. He had jumped over to the other side of his makeshift stone wall and was just watching as his teammates were decimated. If it weren't for the fact that his hands were still and his face tightened into a curious expression, Ruby might have guessed that he was preparing some kind of Dust attack.

Pyrrha seemed confused over his actions - or lack thereof - as well, but she didn't have time to do much about it since Cardin suddenly made his presence known once more with a mighty swing of his mace.

As expected of someone of Pyrrha's skill, the Spartan girl swept the attack to the side with ease and swung her sword across Cardin's face in retaliation. The man grunted, but didn't have time to do much else as he suddenly found Pyrrha's spear wrapped around his throat in a choke-hold.

Sky leapt forwards to help his leader, his halberd thrusting sharply with the intent to wound. Pyrrha was too fast, however; in a single motion she spun around and used Cardin as a human shield - Sky's halberd jammed into his leader's gut.

With ease that showed years of training, Pyrrha hurled Cardin over her head and slammed him into the ground - his aura plummeting into the red and ending his role in the fight.

And yet still Jaune stood behind his stone wall, a small pleased smile working its way onto his ugly face. What was he doing? Why wasn't he helping his teammates? Ruby knew that Cardin and the others were kinda tools yeah, but to abandon them in a fight? That was a bit harsh.

Ruby blinked as the buzzer went off again, looks like Sky was out of the fight now as well - his face having taken a harsh shield bash that sent him tumbling arse over kettle away from the fight.

Only Dove and Jaune remained of team WASB now; Dove looked equal parts furious that Jaune wasn't helping and terrified that he was to be the next one of Pyrrha's victims.

That prediction quickly proved true as he tried - in vain - to fend off a flurry of stabs and slashes from the redheaded champion.

However, Ruby's attention was quickly drawn away from Dove's impending defeat. Jaune was… undressing?!

"What is he doing?" Weiss muttered from next to Ruby, the Schnee's brow furrowed in confusion.

No… no, he was taking off his armour! With a sly grin splitting his maimed face, Jaune unbuckled his breastplate as Dove was decimated on the other side of the arena.

The buzzer rang out; Dove was finished, now it was just Jaune and Pyrrha.

With his breastplate in hand Jaune grinned at Pyrrha, his scarred face twisting in ways that looked… unhealthy.

"I worked it out," he said casually.

Worked what out? Ruby didn't know exactly, but maybe he just worked out that he had totally screwed himself? Fighting Pyrrha alone was pretty silly of him…

Pyrrha's emerald-green eyes widened for a moment, but before she had the chance to say anything she suddenly found Jaune hurling bits of his armour at her; first the breastplate, then went the pauldrons, and finally the small wrist guards were thrown. Pyrrha blocked it all of course, but the startled expression on her face said it all. Jaune was onto something. What exactly Ruby didn't know, but whatever he was getting at was obviously making the Spartan girl nervous.

"Jaune," Pyrrha started, "you-"

Ruby couldn't help but be a little impressed as Jaune became a literal blur - just like how he looked when he was running on the highway. Ruby also couldn't help but be impressed as Jaune's fist smashed into Pyrrha's face with what Ruby could only guess was several hundred kilos of force.

Pyrrha yelped, but even that was cut off by another punch to her face - this time it actually took her off the ground and threw her backwards.

Jaune smirked as he cracked his knuckles, his grin slowly widening as he leant against his wall.

What Jaune did was pretty amazing, even more so considering that none of his teammates had been able to land a blow against Pyrrha before they were taken out.

Pyrrha leapt back to her feet, a slightly dazed expression on her face as she stared at the now armourless, smirking Jaune.

But that didn't stop her; in a flurry of movement she dashed towards Jaune with her sword poised to stab him in his now unarmoured chest.

Apparently that was a mistake. Jaune only smirked, and with a twitch of his fingers the ground at his feet exploded and he was propelled on top of his makeshift wall, while Pyrrha caught a faceful of shrapnel from the ground.

Why was Pyrrha suddenly so much less effective? Against the other three members of the team she didn't struggle at all, but against Jaune she suddenly found herself being pushed around? Ruby wasn't so sure, but something didn't seem right…

"He's fighting clever," Blake muttered from nearby, the comment earning a small nod from Weiss.

Regardless of her slowly lowering aura, Pyrrha leapt up onto the wall to attack Jaune-

Which was apparently another mistake on her part. Just barely, Jaune managed to slide out of the way of the initial attack, but as soon as Pyrrha's feet connected with the raised stone platform it… crumpled? Shattered?

"He still had control over the Dust," Weiss muttered for Ruby's benefit, "He must have willed it to disintegrate at the slightest touch…"

The stone that Jaune had been standing on only moments ago crumpled into powder under Pyrrha's weight; the Spartan yelped as she lost her balance, her whole body being thrown backwards. But Pyrrha wasn't a pushover; in a move that Ruby was sure she'd never be able to do herself, Pyrrha lashed out with her arms and dragged Jaune over the wall with her - bodily throwing the two of them behind the wall and out of all the students' line of sight.

Obviously Professor Goodwitch could still see them though, as she let the match continue without interruption.

The monitor above the arena was the only thing the students had to see how things were going, Pyrrha's aura lowered to 83% as Jaune's took a sharp dive to 51% in an instant.

A pained yelp echoed out through the hall, and not a moment later the stone wall shattered as Jaune was hurled through it - his body tumbling and smashing against the ground until he came to a stop on the far side of the arena.

Jaune's aura had taken another dive, hovering just above the red zone at 18% as he staggered to his feet.

Pyrrha stepped through the hole in the wall, her hair now slightly messy from the fight. But she didn't seem fazed in the slightest. Instead she seemed… excited? Exhilarated? Her green eyes were narrowed with determination as she looked at her opponent across the ring from her.

"This is hardcore," Yang cheered, "Vomit boy is a total badass!"

Ruby hummed her agreement, Jaune was pretty cool. Cool enough to lend a hand when they were at the docks and when they were fighting Torchwick, and he was a great friend too. Weiss and Blake must have thought Jaune was pretty okay too; he was the only person outside of RWBY that they actively bothered speaking to outside of mealtime and class.

Apparently the other students watching must think Jaune is pretty kickass too, since they were all cheering for him as he staggered to his feet in the arena with a smattering of stone covering his clothes.

Jaune spat some dirt out of his mouth, his face twisting in distaste as he did so. "I forfeit," he announced to the great dismay of all the onlookers. "I know when I've lost…"

What? Nooooo…. This fight was awesome! Sure he had practically no chance of winning at this point, but he could still do an epic last attempt right?

But alas, that was not to be. Professor Goodwitch stepped into the ring as the shield around the onlookers faded away. "Excellent work, Miss Nikos, The stern elder woman informed Pyrrha, the rare nugget of praise slipping from her mouth before she turned her scathing gaze to the battered members of WASB. "You four need to work on your teamwork - especially you Mr. Arc, the most powerful member of the team is worthless if you just stand there and watch as your teammates are defeated."

Jaune looked slightly sheepish at that, and he let out a weak laugh as the other three males of the team glared at him. "Ah…" he breathed, "Sure thing, Professor…"

Ruby couldn't help but smile. Jaune was awesome!

A/N

Ruby said some interesting things in the first half of this chapter, don't you think? Also interesting that Nihilus freely admits (however indirectly) that he has three, in his words, Lord Souls. Three of the four lords are part of Nihilus… whoever could he be talking about? He wasn't exactly subtle about it, so take a guess. Also interesting to note that Ruby acknowledged that she never knew about Nihilus' daughter. She never intended to kill her, only Pyrrha.

As for young Nihilus in the second half of the chapter, he finally worked out Pyrrha's semblance - which he did actually take note of (without understanding) back when he fought her in Birth of Hatred.

That aside, the reviews:

Shaded Azure:

Thanks for reviewing.

It wasn't exactly a planned meeting, but alternate Ruby seemed to get through it well enough I'd say.

Jaune has got quite the bloody stain on him now doesn't he? Sure he wasn't in total control, but that wouldn't do much to comfort the families of the dozens he just murdered would it?

How to answer that without giving anything away? That ring is poisonous, and is a part of Jaune now too - like a cancer really. When directly using it the effect is pretty obvious, but it runs far deeper than mere anger and hate. That ring will always be part of Jaune now, never to be removed or destroyed bar Nihilus himself doing some pretty twisted things to... untangle it from Jaune.

And that is about as clear as I can make my answer without giving out spoilers.

Death-The-Horsemen:

Thanks for reviewing.
Yes, this was one of my better ones I think. I will endeavour to keep it to this standard.

FractiousDay:

Thanks for reviewing.

All of which are very valid things to be confused over. Let's see if I can clear it up at all:

Anything that carries the initial title in bold saying 'many years ago...' will be telling the story of how Nihilus became what he is - about 12 ish years prior to Nihilus' first appearance in chapter 1.
Random stuff is only random to the reader since you don't know the full extent of Nihilus' history (such is why that is being explored in detail with the 'many years ago...' segments). But interestingly enough if one were have read the entire history of Nihilus (including what I haven't actually written yet) then they would notice that not only does it all make sense (in a twisted, circular sort of way) but Nihilus himself hasn't actually lied or said anything but the truth since his arrival in chapter 1.

The Rift is tricky, in a terrible paradoxical kind of way. There is only 1 Rift - not to each world, but only 1 that spans everything. Nihilus just... bent it's direction to send him somewhere he could escape from things.

COOLER:

Thanks for reviewing.

I try.

Sadly both Nihilus and Ruby are pretty justified their hatred for each other - both having killed the others family. Both of them are lashing out in hurt and anger, but not unreasonably.

Pyrrha will understand, eventually.

Ruby, Red, killing Jaune is the only way she can see things ending differently from things in her world. Pyrrha going berserk would be terrible for sure, but she could never be an extinction level threat like Nihilus is. In part it's the assumption that Pyrrha will never even hold a shadow of the power Nihilus does, but it also comes down to RWB(Y) assuming that Pyrrha could never snap quite as badly as Jaune (Nihilus) did.


Thanks for reading! Remember to leave a review!