Pre-notes:

So, about the last chapter, to clear up any confusion about Darling's story. Ambrosius and Jinn were spirits that are contained in the relics. At least that's how I'm going to tell it.

Also, how mad would you be if I said that Jaune's mentor was an OC?

Anyways, I'll admit, this isn't my best. It's kinda too long and filled with exposition over worldbuilding. And honestly the worldbuilding is also a tad iffy, but hey, it works I guess.


It was safe to say that Jaune, Winter, and Qrow were tired. And hungry. And sore. The fight had taken a lot out of them. Jaune had been shot at with bullets and missiles, slammed through a window, and also hit in the face with a giant shield. Winter had to exert herself to not get hit by shelling, fists, or that bullet lance. Qrow had been actually tossed out the window before realizing he could turn into a crow, had to catch Jaune before he also fell to his death, and also had to deal with trying not to get shot.

They dragged themselves out of the museum hall without caring much for the pieces in it. As they dragged themselves back to their camp at the factory, Jaune spared a look to the statue. Luckily, it was no longer leaking Grimm fluid. That meant that, even if there were Grimm in the memorial grounds, they'd be gone once they were defeated. That would be a tedious process given they couldn't raze the place, but it would be worth it in terms of long-term protection.

"So, that sucked." Qrow was the first to speak amongst them as they lay panting and sweating on the dirty floor of the factory. The fight with the Paladin was quite the exercise for all of them. Their auras had taken an extensive beating.

"Yes, it did."

They just sat therefor a few moments, the only sounds made being their breathing and the occasional uncomfortable whimper. After a while, they propped themselves up against the machinery of the factory or the walls.

"Alright, Atlas is more or less dealt with. We can let someone else to deal with clearing all of the stuff." Considering the size of the Vytal Memorial Grounds, it was kind of a necessity.

"Yea, maybe let the kiddies of the academies all come here for a international program! Teams from all four academies, tasked with dealing with all of this so we don't have to." Qrow laughed a bit. "Actually, no, that's a horrible idea. The memorial will probably be destroyed in the first few hours. A team from Vale will pick a fight with a team from Vacuo while the team from Atlas will argue with everyone. I can see it, a student says something about weapon regulations while the team from Vale hugs their giant gunsword like its their baby."

"I remember when a colleague of mine refused to use any standard issue weaponry in favor of a fishing rod. Coincidentally, he's one of the top agents." The idea of an elite agent of Atlas wielding a fishing rod actually got a chuckle out of the two other huntsmen. "Allegedly, he said, 'guns don't feel right, swords don't feel right, staves don't feel right, hammers don't feel right. But this fishing rod? That feels right in my hand." A pause. "The general immediately offered counseling to him." The punchline got a few more laughs from them.

"Oh boy, I don't even know if Jimmy was being serious or not." Qrow hacked a bit before reaching for his flask, then found it was empty. "Welp, that sucks. Alright, I'm going to go get some booze. Be good, brats." Qrow forced himself up and walked away, leaving both Jaune and Winter befuddled at the odd outburst.

"Is he going to turn the corner and just find a liquor store?"

"My theory is that he has a secondary semblance to turn his bodily fluids into alcohol." Wasn't that a crazy thought?

After a while, they managed to regain their breath and waited for Qrow to come back. He took a while, so Winter and Jaune decided to play a board game with Darling while they waited. Jaune proposed practicing Calm Waters but Winter said that exercising like that immediately after a big fight wasn't exactly an attractive idea. So, instead, they did something a thousand times more agonizing and played Monopoly. Jaune, having numerous siblings, one of which who loved board games, knew immediately that the game would turn into a slow slog towards inevitable destruction.

That's why when Qrow arrived, Jaune flipped the board in 'surprise.' He at least had the decency to look sheepish as Winter (she got really into the game) and Darling (she just liked screwing with Winter) glared at him.

"Alright! I got some more booze!" Qrow held out a now filled flask as well as a glass bottle of what Jaune would describe as the cheapest booze money could buy. Jaune was half sure that he just found it in a dumpster and pulled it out to save money. They all pulled a chair to sit around a part of the factory line they were using as a table and got to talking.

"Alright, so where are we going next?" Jaune pulled out his map of the Vytal Memorial Grounds. They were in the Mantlese quarter of the place. They still had Mistral, Vale, Vacuo, and Menagerie to go. Atlas was in the northern part, while Mistral was east, Vacuo was south, and Vale was west. Menagerie was in between Vale and Vacuo, while the arena was in the center of it all.

"To provide some more information, the Mistralian sector has a jungle growing out of it, the Vacuan quarter is a dessert, and Vale makes up for a lack of environmental dangers with Grimm." Well, those were pleasant descriptors of the places they'd be heading.

"A jungle sounds better than dry death and a boatload of hostiles, I guess." Jaune really would rather save the worst for last.

"Yea, I'll take Mistral over the others any day of the week. I saw some tough cookies in Vale and I do hate sand." Jaune felt like that was a reference, was it a reference? He'd been wandering for a while so he was kind of outdated on culture, even if he had only been gone for a few months at best.

"Very well. I suspect the source of the Grimm in the Mistralian quarter is at this Mistralian tea house turned museum." Once more, she pointed towards the center of the Mistralian Quarter. "Large swaths of the area are covered in thick jungle, which would be a risk to venture through due to the Grimm inhabiting it possibly ambushing us in an area with obstacles. Luckily, a few rivers lead to the museum and a path goes by them. I suggest we take that road to the museum and then deal with whatever is inhabiting it."

"Alright then, sounds like a plan." And so Jaune, Winter, and Qrow prepared for another excursion.


"Why are the rivers made of blood!?" Qrow looked a touch disgusted at the literally river of blood flowing besides the road they were taking. The Mistralian sector of the concrete jungle had, quite literally, turned into a jungle. Wild trees sprung out of the ground, bursting out of concrete, and covering the area with a green roof. "Actually, better question, what the fuck is with the crucifixions!?"

Also, pinned to the trees were a myriad of bleeding mourners, their fluids flowing down the tree and eventually flowing into the river itself. To say the very least, it was a very disgusting sight.

"I take it back, Vacuo would've been better." Jaune gave a weary sigh at the fact. They'd gotten a few feet into the dense jungle when they saw the river and the constantly bleeding and squirming (and that was the worst bit) mourners. As for hostile Grimm, there was a greater variety of enemies in comparison to the Atlas quarter. Where there were simply gunmen and knights over there, there was a wide range of different Grimm occasionally popping out in an ambush. Just a few moments ago, they had fought a bunch of traditionally dressed hopping vampires that had almost squished them with their surprisingly powerful leaps. And now? A horned Ogre Grimm wielding a large metal club jumped out, shaking the earth as he landed in front of them. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH ALL OF THESE THINGS!?"

"Well, Mistral may have a bandit problem." Qrow admitted as he hopped back to avoid a slam from the Oni, tripping on nothing and rolling midway. Jaune had rolled right while Winter dodged left. The Oni, its club on the ground, heaved it sideways to try and bash Jaune. He immediately pulled out his shield and managed to only get slammed into a tree.

"You think!?" Winter wasn't yelling at the top of her lungs, but she was more than irritated at the frequent fighting they were engaging in.

"Yea, yea, shut it, alright? The history lesson can wait until we kill this stupid thing!" Qrow dashed forward with Harbinger, sliding under a swing of the club to try and slash the Oni's knees. He pierced skin and managed to get gashes on both kneecaps, making the Oni scream in pain as blood leaked from its open wound. When Winter made to try and stab it in the back, a loud 'BOOM!' rang through the air. They looked at the source and saw two Tengu, black and red feathered humanoid bird Grimm with long noses and wings, wielding Great War-era rifles, one smoking. Winter had managed to turn mid-air to deflect the bullet, but that meant she couldn't backstab the Oni.

Winter hopped on a Glyph and made to pierce one, actually managing to take off its wing while it tried flying away and letting it crash onto the floor with a sickening crunch, blood flowing back to the river. The other flew midair, bullet shells flying and its rifle pinging as it tried to nail Winter with a shot. To avoid that, she began dashing circles around it with her glyphs. Meanwhile, Jaune was on the floor dealing with the ridiculously tough Oni. Its slams shook the earth and made it unstable for them or slash on. Qrow and Jaune both got a few good hits in, but its bleeding seemingly wasn't going to kill it, hell, it just seemed to be making it more aggressive and thus, using more of its absurd amounts of strength.

Qrow jumped off of the club in order to avoid getting crushed by it against a tree, rolling back to Jaune.

"This guy's tough." Qrow was scowling.

"Yep. I suggest you deal with him arms, fingers, or hands. We just need to get rid of that club and then, we might be able to turn the fight around." Qrow nodded, sounded like a plan, before they rushed at it. Jaune charged behind his shield, sword arm primed and ready to stab at something, while Qrow held onto Harbinger with both of his hands. Jaune rolled mid-dash to dodge a slam while Qrow took the opportunity to pelt the Oni's bone plated fingers with a shotgun blast that made it flinch and recoil back, leaving the club on the ground. Before it could grab onto it, Jaune and Qrow pressed further, making it back up before it could retrieve its weapon. While Jaune was glad they managed to get it away from its weapon, he found a new thing to worry about in the fact that it was very proficient in using its fists to try and decimate their bones.

Dodging its lightning fast punches wasn't exactly an easy matter for Jaune, being slow as he was. He had to keep up his shield while only occasionally counterattacking with Crocea Mors. And the Oni was somehow multitasking in the fact that it was using one hand to try and pummel him while using another to deal with Qrow. In one of itis downwards punches, Jaune saw an opportunity and crouched while angling his shield up, letting the Oni's fist slide past him. And using the momentum gained, he swinged upwards and cut off the Oni's arm. Well, half of it. But that was enough. The Oni screeched in pain and tried using its other arm to smash him, but before it could do that, Qrow and taken advantage of it turning its back on him and beheaded the Oni with a swing from Harbinger.

So, with its head lobbed off, it began to dissolve into black mist. Meanwhile, Winter had finally ran through the Tengu with her saber, falling onto the floor next to them as her fight ended at the same time as theirs.

"Qrow, tell me, why are there so many bandits in your god forsaken country?" Qrow gave a scowl as he began picking at his teeth.

"First of all, not my country. Second of all, Great War, that's why." And of course, it all comes back to the Great War. Why do we have scrolls? Great War! The CCT? Great War! Why kids were thrown off cliffs? Great War! It seemed like all roads led to there. "To be more specific, after the war, Mistral had a financial problem. So, it began laying off its military without pay. And what do you get when you fire a bunch of soldiers?" Winter rolled her eyes, knowing the question to be rhetorical. "Fine, be like that. As you'd expect, a lot of them took their guns and uniforms, and took up banditry. Anyways, most of those are gone now. But Mistral still has a few bandit clans that are remnants of the groups of the past. The Branwen tribe is merely one of them." Winter gave a sigh.

"For once, I'm glad that Solitas is a icy hellscape. Because if there are deserters, they wouldn't be able to survive in the harsh cold." Qrow instinctively shivered at the image.

"Yea, well, a lot of the bandits were wiped out by natural causes." Qrow waited a second before elaborating. "The Grimm, I meant the Grimm. What did you expect?" That was to be expected. What else would happen when you got a group of people robbing their way to survival and put them in the wilderness where creatures attracted to negative emotions, like, per say, the negative emotions of 'please dear god do not shoot me,' and 'oh my god they're actually robbing me,' had the strength of trucks and were weirdly good at ambushing people.

Speaking of ambushing pe-

Qrow shot at another thing that jumped out of the woods to try and ambush them, instantly killing it.

"The Branwen Tribe survived due to luck. Or, as my bitch of a sister would say, strength." He rolled his eyes. "The Branwens got a head start with every initial member having a gun as well as somehow not being besieged by Grimm immediately. I'd say that's because of the ridiculously strong booze the tribe creates." He looked at his flask and scowled. "God damnit, now I need to learn how to make it. Do you know how much money alcohol costs? And do you know how cheaply its made at the tribe? It's ridiculous, I swear."

"The last thing you need is stronger alcohol, Qrow." Winter rolled her eyes. Seeing how Qrow hadn't obtained the recipes in his years of existence, his resolve to get the recipe would probably waver quickly. Or he'd just forget it during their mission.

"Yea, yea. Say what you will about the Branwen Tribe, because I've probably said it twice already, but they are effective at what they do."

"Robbing vulnerable civilians?"

"Yep. They're good at that. Ambush tactics, blitz runs, and non-permanent damages to maximize future gains. They'll fall apart if a military was built up and went after them, but there isn't, is there?" Winter stood there, arms crossed, as she gave that sentence some thought.

"Wait, does Mistral have a military military?" Yea, that was a pretty good question. Mistral, being on the side of Mantle during the great war, obviously had a military that it sent into the conflict. Unless it was just decimated during the great war and there was no political drive to rebuild it, Jaune couldn't imagine any reason a nation would go without one.

"Sort of? Again, Mistral fell on hard times after the war, so a unified military was out of the question. The Kingdom Walls do have a very well armed guard, but the Kingdom Walls don't have to deal with the Branwen Tribe. Outside of the walls, on the Mistralian frontier, there are private and localized armies. Local armies are just town guards or the bodyguards of big landowners out here, while private armies are usually called in against Grimm or a particularly bad bandit problem. And 'private army' really just means any and every freelance for-profit huntsman out there. Well, them, and also guards who lost their homes. My point is, for all the shit we give Vacuo about being a divided hellscape, Mistral isn't doing so hot either." The long winded explanation left both Jaune and Winter speechless.

"That was a surprisingly well-reasoned response you gave."

"Oh fuck off, Ice Queen, you asked for it." Literally.

"Regardless, I suppose that all makes sense." Winter thought it over before shrugging. "And while that is a nice piece of trivia, I feel as if we have gotten off track." Jaune looked down and, nope, they were still on the beaten path.

"No, I think we're still on it." Jaune's joke got Winter to roll her eyes and Qrow to give a half-hearted scowl.

"Brothers, you're almost as bad as my niece."

"The one who eats cookies?"

"Nope, the one who makes gratuitous puns all the time. And also asks me for booze all the time." Qrow took a long sip from his flask as Winter and Jaune stared at him. "I don't give it to her! I'm not that bad! Right? C'mon, Jaune, back a guy up!"

"Well, you slept with me while we were bother drunk." Jaune turned to the side as Winter's gaze sharpened and her grip on her saber tightened.

"HE DID WHA-"


"For the last fucking time, I didn't have sex with a kid! We didn't do anything, when I woke up, we both had our clothes on." Winter's chase of Qrow led them to a small torn up marketplace, which, due to being infected by whatever Grimm was hanging onto Vytal Memorial, had vines and moss clinging to the buildings and stalls. Winter stared at Winter, then looked at Jaune for confirmation.

"He's right." With that, Winter slowly, to a painful degree, sheathed her saber.

"Fine. But I swear, I will get you professional help on your issues. I understand being a huntsman makes people prone to bad coping strategies, but yours almost made you cross a line."

"Yea, yea. I already know. Why do you think I switched from ever clear to whiskey?" Winter gave him a deadpan stare. "The flask's clear, you can't tell the difference unless you drink it. Seriously, before, I might as well have incorporated flaming belches in my fighting style." Qrow laughed, half-tipsy like always, and murmured something about his liver somehow being indestructible due to aura. And that was actually true. Because of the passive protections of aura, huntsmen actually weren't as affected by alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. It didn't make them harmless, just less effective.

"Anyways, doesn't Mistral have a more diverse ecosystem than dense and unending jungle?" Winter's specialist uniform was stained with crimson when Qrow had tripped her into the river during that chase (And hoo boy, not even the river would've been able to sate her bloodlust from that) and had bits of fallen greenery clinging to it. They were resting in the small former-marketplace in order to let Winter dry and clean her uniform for comfort and ease of use.

"I guess? I mean, when people think Mistral, they think the kingdom. That or the rivers, but mostly the kingdom. Well the hot springs here are good as well, rivaling Atlas and all, but yea they mostly think the mountainside kingdom. And when you think the kingdom, you think of the stupid amount of jungle. It's almost a blessing the Grimm exist, otherwise the entire place would've been cut up. Oh yea! There's also Kusanachi! But yea, my point still stands."

"You know, I didn't join the academies partially to avoid history lectures." Jaune took a sip of water from his canteen. And after smelling blood and tasting crimson mist for the past few hours, fresh water on his tongue was a blessing.

"Yea, no. You'll learn kid, that life is just one overextended lecture on history." Qrow, after dropping that very confusing and hollow quote, took a sip from a bottle of whiskey he just pulled out of nowhere. "Plus, I really only have experience in central and western Mistral. East is too sandy and North is too cold. I hear the bandits in the northern region don't bother in the snow. Instead, using longboats, they ambush shipments in the lake. And in the east? Got no clue."

"While that is all very interesting, what shall we do about the museum? I must've made a mistake in scouting, because it seems like the path leads nowhere, so we're lost in the wild." Qrow thought for a moment before shrugging.

"Well, it seems like this part of the city is less dense, so why don't we explore here?" And indeed, the area they'd just entered resembled a block or two of the city that wasn't absolutely destroyed. The infestation had left it covered in moss and vines, but trees weren't as commonplace as outside it. So, with that, they shrugged and called it a plan.


"Hmmm, it's an old textiles." Qrow muttered. "And with the moss and how old these things are, it's real." Qrow dusted off and observed some of the cloths on display. They were all various colors. He looked closely at a piece of cloth and chuckled. "Yep, definitely real. Look closely at it, you can see patterns woven in. This one has little white lilies on it." Winter walked over and inspected the primarily red piece of cloth to see that, indeed, there were tiny flowers blossoming on it.

"Impressive." With that level of detail, whoever made it must've been quite skilled.

"Yea, Cultural Suppression doctrines forbade patterned cloth. Kimonos with large blossoms or any form of artistry on them were banned, at least for the lower classes. Only province characters, imperial signs, or other important things could be woven into the cloth. As a countermeasure, most learned to weave tiny little patterns like these into the cloth. Whoever owned this shop probably was Mistralian and moved here before the Great War." Qrow chuckled and pocketed the folded up piece of cloth, earning a raised eyebrow from Winter. "Ok, this is like, decades old. Who cares if I take it?"

"That belongs in a museum, which this entire place is."

"It's already being disturbed. Plus, it'll find more use as a birthday present than sitting around."

"Hey guys?" This time, Winter and Qrow heeded Jaune's voice and looked towards him. "Is that normal?" Jaune pointed to the workroom, the wall between it and the display room having been blown open. In the workroom, three kimonos lept off their mannequins, as if worn by an invisible person. That invisibility was being cut off at the limbs, given how there were white bone and black fur hands and feet popping out of the sleeves.

"No, it is not." Qrow sighed and pulled out his sword. Winter did the same with her saber. The Bodyless (He dubbed them in the heat of the moment) three Grimm descended upon them. The clothes didn't act like there was anything in them, but the feet and fists did. So, while the cloth would get confusing, Jaune just treated it like fighting an invisible person wearing a bathrobe, gloves, and shoes. It was rather strong proportionate to its size, but it wasn't anything overwhelming. Jaune blocked its punches, kicks, and slams with his shield while poking occasionally slashing at it out of reflex. As he expected, the slashes didn't do much beyond tear through the fabric. And oddly enough, the fabric repaired itself And from how armored (and tough) the bone plate and hides of the Bodyless were, there wasn't much chance to strike at those. But, taking a chance, he used the fire dust in his gloves to immediately ignite the kimono of the Bodyless he was fighting. It tried to put it out by rolling on itself, but it merely exacerbated the flames in doing so. Winter and Qrow saw this and directed their combatants to the growing pyre, making them catch alight as well.

They all stood on guard as they watched the Bodyless burn. Qrow held Harbinger low, Winter kept her saber in a fencing position, while Jaune kept his shield guard up and gripped onto Crocea Mors. And their paranoia was vindicated by the fact that, after their clothes burnt away, the lonesome feet and fists scurried towards each other and created an odd scrambling thing the size of a small dog. It began scuttling away, earning chase from Winter, Qrow, and Jaune. Jaune lagged behind the two speedsters and was the one who noticed the presence of other beings. He was ambushed as Qrow and Winter turned a corner by a few hands that grabbed at him. He tore them off one by one, only for them to scuttle back towards him. With an irritated sigh, he began to wonder, Grimm could read emotions, right?

And his irritation from the annoying, not even lethal, Grimm clinging onto him was building up. So, with an intense burst as he mentally cursed the Grimm clinging onto him, he tried activating Wolf Gaze. His anger had immediate effects. His heartbeat spiked, adrenaline pumped through his body, and his movements felt light and weightless. The legless feet kicking at him and the armless hands clinging to him all froze from the sudden burst of hatred emanating from Jaune.

That was all he needed. In the long run, that would only attract more Grimm, but for now? He just needed a small reprise. So he shook off all the Bodyless parts that were attaching themselves to him and, after they broke out of their trance to begin charging at him once more, he began skewering them one by one. Sure, they were small and tough, but even they couldn't stand up to Jaune using his full weight as he stabbed into them.

And with a crash from above, he met the consequences of his actions. Qrow and Winter had just been slammed through the roof. And looking up, he saw why. The being in front of them was a mess of black and bone plated limbs, with a single eye in the center. It could be likened to a storm cloud made of monstrous limbs. Or perhaps a sentient mound. Or even an octopus if one stretched their imaginations a bit and also ignored the fact that its 'apendages' were made of apendages that had numerous claws.

With a sigh, he thought up of something.

"Hey guys?" The Bodyless Mound (he was calling it that now) was still reaching through the hole, it wasn't attacking them yet. Using this brief window of opportunity, he came up with a plan. "I'm probably not going to be much help offensively. So, if I amplify my aura and use myself as bait." Jaune petered off on that last word as he felt a sense of discomfort from both Qrow and Winter.

"No. Absolutely not, kid. You are not going to just put yourself on a mousetrap." Qrow grumbled a bit as his grip on his greatsword increased.

"Agreed. There's no need for such senseless actions. Now, instead, we should probably aim for that eye. When I and Qrow tried before, its limbs protected it." Jaune nodded, taking in the information. From the looks of it, any attack on its weak spot (the eye) would be intercepted by the mount of tangled up limbs making up its body or even the giant tendrils coming out from it. And then it began attacking. It had taken its time, mostly to get a surprise attack from the side. It seemed like it lengthened their tentacles in order to go around and downstairs to attack them from the side. The three of them dodged, of course, but with Jaune jumping up, he didn't have that much room to dodge the apendage from above slamming at him.

So, he had to put up his shield at an odd angle, deal with what felt like his arm being crushed in on itself, and get slammed into a wooden wall for his troubles. Meanwhile, Qrow and Winter were dodging and slashing at the tentacles that were trying to skewer them. To their credit, they were too quick to be hit. Black mist coated the floor as they whittled away at the mass of apendages that was the Bodyless Mound. Jaune managed to hop out of the wall before he was skewered by a rapidly approaching skewer and instead use its momentum against it by holding Crocea Mors where he used to be.

There was so much black mist that Jaune almost choked.

Qrow had transformed his weapon into a scythe and began using his mobility to his advantage, chopping tendril after tendril off. Winter was doing just as well, using her saber to get deep cuts into the offending arms. Jaune was using his shield to deflect any thrusts, leaving offense to Qrow and Harbinger.

The Bodyless Mound above was losing some of its arms and legs as it poured more into regenerating its limbs. Jaune, knowing his sword would be useless at the moment, entered Calm Water and began dodging the rapidly striking tendrils. It was certainly an experience, given how he could practically react to attacks before they even got close to him. He deflected, sidestepped, ducked, and rolled as more ripples reached him to let him know of another attack aimed at him.

Meanwhile, Qrow and Winter were still whittling away at the Bodyless' apendages. It took a good while of Qrow just cleaving through them before the tendrils stopped and the Bodyless Mound could extend itself no longer. Coincidentally, it had no more limbs to spare in order to protect its eyes. So, with a quick dash and hop off a glyph, Winter went under and then directly towards the eye with her saber.

She hit her mark. The eye began disintegrating immediately, as did the rest of its 'limbs.' Jaune noticed the cesation of attacks and exited Calm Water to see Qrow leaning against Harbinger and Winter landing gracefully from the roof before sheathing her saber.

And so, the fight ended, and they took a moment to breath before continuing on their path.


A while later, the three of them had found a small clearing, where a Mistralian shrine was located. Or, well, the ruins of one. It was incredibly charred, with the walls and roof burnt to a crisp, only leaving the steps and a ruined. Around the ruined temple was gravel, with the occasional blade of grass or weed poking out. Leading to the temple was a charred wooden gate, though some of its red paint was still clinging to the pillars.

"Hmmm, do you think it was a victim of terror tactics?" The area besides it was clear, mostly just decrepit buildings overrun with moss and the occasional Grimm.

"Perhaps. It would make sense from a military standpoint, but given Mantle's diplomatic ties with Mistral, I doubt this would be condoned." Winter had a point as well.

"Yea." They decided to walk through the gate, where upon they entered another vision of the past. The temple was currently on fire, it was night, the sky black, as if choked by smoke, and Mourners were gathered around it. Mourners carrying torches. Mourners dressed as civilians. As the torches were raised and the mob continued to swarm the temple, they could hear unintelligible cries from the Mourners, angry cries, hateful cries. And with the smell of blood and smoke, the vision ended for the three of them. Qrow took it the hardest. "Excuse me, what the fuck was that?"

"I believe that was the moment of the burning reenacted." Winter was also recovering from the shock of just being flung into another vision.

"No, no, I meant what the hell was all of that!? Did I accidentally put shrooms in my flask?" Qrow looked at the metal container with confusion. "Ok, you all saw that as well, right?" They all nodded. "Ok, I'm not going crazy, alright." He took a sip from his flask. "Alright, I'll just go with the flow and assume that's normal. I don't feel like I got stabbed from that, so it's probably nothing."

"Just assume it's visions from the war." Jaune shrugged, having long accepted it. "Anyways, so I assume that it wasn't burned down in an attack?" It looked like the temple was, instead, destroyed by a mob.

"Yep. Mistraliphobic sentiment rose before and during the war. You know how it is, the tensions of the two kingdoms slowly getting less room. It's just that they conflated the decisions of the Mistralian Government with the intentions of the Mistralian people. Plenty of immigrants came to Vale to escape the Emotional Suppression Doctrines. I'd just guess that this temple burning is yet another symptom." Qrow seemed resigned at the fact.

"Have you ever, experienced such problems?" Winter seemed hesitant to speak, probably knowing it was a delicate subject. Qrow either didn't notice or didn't care.

"I don't think so. Frontier side? The Grimm have long since destroyed any care about it. But in the city? I like to think that the odd looks I get are because of the way I dress, the way I walk, and the way I drink." Qrow was holding Harbinger on the floor as he stared at the burned down temple. Winter decided to go with the out he gave.

"Well, at least it's about you being an alcoholic. I don't think even you could defend your vices." Qrow snorted at the jab, having long been numbed to the constant back and forth they engaged in.

"And I don't think even you could defend the stick so far up yours its close to coming out your mouth." Qrow smiled as Winter bristled from the counter-poke. Jaune smiled fondly as Qrow and Winter bickered. Jaune wondered if that habit of theirs was just a product of clashing personalities, or if it was a way for them to relieve stress and find some semblance of normality in the craziness of the frontier.


"You know, us entering this tower kind of reminds me of a movie Tai and Yang loved, it was called Tower of Death, where this guy went up a tower and would fight a variety of martial- oh, oh this is. Ok we're doing this then." In order to find some high ground to spot the museum they were looking for, Qrow had suggested going up a still-standing tower that stood above the trees. It was a Mistralian style seven story pagoda. And, when they entered, they noticed that the way to the stairs were blocked, and that there was a Grimm kneeling on the floor. They looked like a tiger wearing a martial artist's robes, black fur contrasting with white cloth. When the three of them took a step forward towards the mat, it shook its head and put a single finger up.

"Is it, asking for a duel?" Winter was the one to speak as they retracted their feet. The tiger nodded, keeping its singular finger up. "Well, I suppose we should go along with the request?"

"Well, who among us wants to do it?" Jaune was feeling kind of bummed out from not having done much during the last fight, so he stretched his arms and readied Crocea Mors. "You sure, kid?"

"As sure as I'll ever be." With a shrug from Qrow and a respectful nod from Winter, Jaune stepped forward with his weapons. The tiger nodded, acknowledging his status as a challenger. It stood up, its muscles tensed, and Jaune could practically feel the power in its arms. And so, with Jaune starting in a standard position and the Tiger taking an aggressive stance, the duel began.

One thing Jaune noticed was the way it punched. Its fist was crooked, indicative of a style he supposed, and it was all the more powerful for it. The Tiger's strikes were relentless and constant. It focused on using its fists to overwhelm him. He may have had a shield, but with how much the Tiger was attacking, he didn't get many opportunities to use Crocea Mors. He had to carefully time his movements in order to not be caught mid-step and fall over while also keeping distance from the Tiger.

Then, when Jaune took a particularly long step back and the Tiger fell over with an overextended punch, he though he had an opportunity and made a stab towards the Tiger.

It then proceeded to catch Crocea Mors with the bottom of its feet. The Tiger then, in a move that Jaune would've drooled over the coolness of if it weren't for the fact that the person doing it was also trying to kill him, flipped back and chucked his sword across the mat, removing Jaune's main advantage. Now, all he had left was his shield.

Entering Calm Waters wasn't a viable strategy. First, the time needed to enter it would be all the Tiger would need in order to overwhelm in. Second, he didn't have any backup with him, so using a purely evasive strategy wouldn't work against a tireless enemy. Plus, the Tiger was probably too fast for him to dodge. He wasn't too comfortable with hand to hand, but he had a few advantages.

Advantages like the crystal of wind dust he clutched with the hand that used to hold Crocea Mors. If he used it correctly, the wind generated by the crystal could add an extra oomph to his punches. All he needed to do was fight back well enough in order to retrieve Crocea Mors.

He decided to take the initiative with a few right hooks, with the Tiger merely sidestepping all of them. He avoided its crooked paw slam and an attempted throw and actually got in a good punch. The wind dust crystal activated and actually knocked the Tiger back a few inches while it was in a sturdy pose. It gave a few curled palm strikes, which Jaune merely dodged.

Then, he got an idea. He chucked the wind crystal at the Tiger, who tried to dodge it, but in its sidestep the crystal exploded in a burst of wind and knocked the tiger away. It clawed to the floor before it could be knocked out of the ring. Jaune, in his current position, couldn't run to grab Crocea Mors without putting a massive target on his back. Instead, he emptied a gravity dust flare and used it to create a pulling effect aimed at his sword. He charged it with aura in order to make the pull stronger. And, as he wished, Crocea Mors began flying at him.

And then the Tiger caught it. His dust ran out (sans the fire dust in his normal flares) and he only had his shield. Meanwhile, the Tiger Demon had his sword.

"Fuck." He muttered before the demon began stabbing at him. It wasn't good with his sword, its paws wouldn't let it get that good of a grip, and he knew it. He made sure to directly block any slashes the Tiger made with Crocea Mors. It wasn't skilled, but it more than made up for that with strength. Each and every blow felt like it was a boulder slamming into his shield. But he endured it anyways for what would happen on its 16th strikes. From all the blocking and its loose grip, Crocea Mors was wormed out of the Tiger's paw and was flung into the air. This time, Jaune caught onti it and slashed at the Tiger.

What he wasn't expecting was for the Tiger to just drop. More specifically, a pelt of black fur dropped onto the floor, with no other signs of the Tiger existing. It slowly began to dissipate. His aura screamed at him to dodge to the side and, in the heat of battle, he listened. He rolled to the side just as something slammed into the space he used to occupy. As it turned out, the Tiger didn't die. It just lost its skin. A flayed tiger, red muscles pumping with crimson, stared at him with grotesque uncovered eyes.

If he wasn't fighting, he'd be retching.

And as it turned out, losing its skin meant it became faster. And on fire, did Jaune mention on fire? As Jaune got a few shallow cuts on it, its blood became fire. Jaune sighed, this wasn't close to the weirdest thing he'd seen, but a flayed tiger martial artist Grimm on fire was pretty damned high on that list.

The heat became unbearable and he just had to collapse his shield. Wielding Crocea Mors with two hands, he fought defensively still against the Tiger, waiting for a moment to pounce. That moment came with a punch that used up all of its momentum. And that was where Jaune struck with Crocea Mors, cleaving it cleanly in two from the neck to the waist. Its firey halves slid the floor with a thumb, and they faded to black dust.

The things blocking the doors fell to nothingness, letting Jaune, Winter, and Qrow pass.

"You fight like a turtle, kid. But, hey, if it works, it works." Qrow ruffled Jaune's already scraggly hair a bit as they walked. "Gotta learn to take the initiative."

"And that's why you're a bachelor." Qrow and Jaune almost choked at that.

"Ooh, Ice Queen is spitting fire!" Qrow seemed almost paternally impressed, smiling at the admittedly pretty good quip.

"Shut it, Qrow. The opportunity presented itself." Winter still had a smile from the insult. Moving on from that, they traversed the stairs up to the next floor of the tower of challenges. On the second floor, they saw a man wearing a poncho and a wide brimmed hat. His clothes were reminiscent of a southeastern Mistralian vagabond. His face was covered from shadow, though a pale mist came out of its mouth as it gave a decrepit sigh. It spun a revolver with a skeletal hand, the bony limb the only thing coming out of the poncho. The revolver was an ornate ivory, a six shot model. It looked at the newcomers and paused its spinning. Still holding its gun, it put up a single bony finger.

"I'm not doing it." Jaune immediately sat down, having already busted his ass fighting against that flayed tiger.

"I got it. Always loved those western movies Ruby watched. She liked the guns. I liked the showdowns." Qrow fondly sighed as he spun Harbinger around in preparation. "I guess we got ourselves a standard fight." He smiled and walked onto the mat, Harbinger at the ready. He played reactively, trusting in his reflexes and speed to capitalize on any flaws in his opponent's first move.

Well, he couldn't really find any.

Because the first move was just shooting Qrow. He managed to deflect the bullet in time and was shot at two more times, though he deflected every shot. He was running around the Six Shooter (As Jaune dubbed it), waiting for an opportunity to present himself. He slowly circled in, but if he made to directly charge at the Six Shooter? Well, he was going to get shot at. And while aura protected him, it didn't stop knockback and tripping.

Three more shots rang out from Six Shooter, making Qrow smile. This was his golden opportunity. So, he charged in with Harbinger at the ready to bisect the Six Shooter.

And the poncho flew off as five more arms, all wielding six shooters, revealed themselves.

"MOTHERF-" Qrow was immediately flung away by the barrage of five shots (one from each pistol) hitting him. It looked like it hurt, given how it actually caused him to bleed. He swore the entire time, but didn't really linger on the pain as he rolled mid-flight and dodged another shot coming from the Six Shooter. Qrow deflected and deflected as he slowly circled in on the Six Shooter once more. With his scythe configuration, he actually managed to take an arm off. Unfortunately, it was the arm carrying an empty gun. For his troubles, he was shot at again. With a sigh, he began close range engagements with the Six Shooter.

An overhead slash was held up by the handle of a pistol as the Six Shooter spun its guns to blast at Qrow. Just as it got two more shots on him, Harbinger turned into a scythe and tore apart the blocking revolver and the arm holding it. Six Shooter rolled back and unleashed another barrage of bullets. Qrow deflected or tanked every single one of the ten shots. One of his deflections caused a bullet to almost hit Jaune, which made Qrow mumble something about his semblance.

He took a step forward with Harbinger, ready to end the fight then and there.

BANG!

A dash to the left to avoid the bullet, Qrow tripped on nothing but salvaged the movement by converting the slip into a roll.

BANG!

He stabbed Harbinger into the ground to act as a shield against the bullet. He smiled as it shifted.

BANG!

A giant wicked scythe with razor sharp blades was stabbed into the floor. Qrow gripped onto the handle and ran towards the Six Shooter with a manic smile on his face.

BANG!

He rolled to the side, bringing his scythe with him, tearing into the tatami mat floor. He didn't care though. With Harbinger still embedded in the mat, Qrow began charging at the Six Shooter.

BANG!

Qrow leaped up with Harbinger at his side, ready to cleave the Six Shooter in half. It wouldn't be fast enough to dodge given the wide and long range of Qrow's scythe. So it could only pull the trigger.

Click.

And it ran out of its shots. All 36 of them fired already. And with the sickening crunch of bone, the second floor of the seven story tower was cleared. Qrow sighed a breath of relief and slackened. The fight wasn't too hard, but getting shot hurt like a bitch. He thanked his ability to form coherent thoughts during battle for the bit of confidence that enabled him to directly charge at the Grimm gunman. He leaned on Harbinger, which he turned once more into a sword and stabbed it once more into the ground. As he rested, Winter and Jaune walked past him towards the stairs.

"Good job!" Qrow gave an earnest smile and a thumbs up. Qrow rolled his eyes, the kid really was just a kid. Even if Qrow could admit the guy was cut out for the wild, he still had the look in his eyes like Ruby did.

"Aww, no compliments, Ice Queen?" Qrow smiled sardonically as Winter sighed.

"I suppose that last bit of your performance was admirable. Regardless, my turn awaits." With the roll of his eyes, Qrow straightened his back (well, he got up, though he still hunched over) and walked with the other two members of the group up the stairs. On the third floor, they saw a humanoid Grimm wearing colorful southeastern Mistralian robes and armed with two swords, with each arm carrying a sword. One arm held up a single finger, which was the cue Winter needed to step forward.

The Grimm, which Jaune dubbed a Sword Dancer, was extremely adept at fighting while looking good. Every move seemed effortless and without force, but was capable of deflecting a thrust or slash from Winter with ease. Every dodge was a step in its dance and every thrust was merely another move. Jaune tuned out the fight and looked towards Qrow.

"Hey, what goes on in Southeastern Mistral anyways?" Qrow hummed a bit.

"Not much. There are a few towns near the odd oasis or two, but I can't think of much else. It's also the location of the Red Dessert. There's this tribe in Vacuo, the Urus, who say that the Red Dessert was created by their deity, Uriel, as a miracle. Though, its more ruins nowadays. The dust crystals that lay in the sand have all been mined out and the dust in the sand itself is so granular that it's not even worth trying. One time, I met a man from the Urus tribe. He spoke of a holy land, a dessert bearing sand all the colors of the rainbow. One where the ground itself is charged with Nature's Wrath, and where the mystical Fortress Above All but One is. Weird stuff, but I can't really judge." Qrow whistled knowingly, considering that he knew an immortal body-hopping wizard.

"Hmmm, what happened to Mistral's monarchy anyways?"

"Dead. Killed. Lost their divine privilege and were murdered for it." The silence that followed was only filled by the sound of metal clashing with metal. "Ok, more specifically, after the Great War, Emotional Suppression Doctrine was really getting on peoples nerves. Mostly because it was a thinly veiled attempt to erase minority cultures. So, what was there to do but murder the imperial family? A merchant middle class backed up by the people most affected by the policy built up a rebellion and proceeded to overthrow the monarchy and the families supporting them. Didn't hurt that the military was in shambles after the Great War and the merchants could afford to buy or even just convince to lend the services of mercenaries and bandits. Anyways, after that, they followed the Valean and Mantlese lead and established a council. They say that the roads going down the mountainside were stained red with blue blood. And that no beggar went thirsty that night, for they were free to drink from that crimson river."

"So, is that why there are rivers of blood outside?"

"Yea, I don't think so. The things-"

"Mourners." Qrow rolled his eyes.

"The Mourners that were pinned to the trees. They didn't look like nobility. More like farmers, salarymen, artisans, beggars, and other low and middle class people." Jaune nodded, that sounded about right.

"Hmmmm, the fight is looking pretty even." Truly, the Sword Dancer was an agile and inhumanly flexible opponent. They moved their sounds as they danced, successfully dealing with Winter glyph charged thrusts and slashes.

"Yep. Looks like Ice Queen met her match." Well, it wasn't exactly an even fight. While Winter's offense wasn't really producing any results, the Sword Dancer couldn't do much against her. It could only dance, dodge, and deflect in the hopes that Winter tired herself to death. "I wonder why she doesn't carry a gun."

That gave Jaune an idea. Uncaring if it was against the rules, he took out a flare and tossed it to Winter. She caught it and tore it open with her saber, making sure not to activate the fire dust in it. The red powder then flew into a glyph, powering it to create a small nevermore with a beating red core behind the white ice exterior. It flew behind the sword dancer, forcing it to turn in order to block Winter and the Nevermore at once.

But, as it cut the summon, all it did was make the two halves, one with the fire dust core, fall onto the Sword Dancer.

The battle ended with an explosion that Winter retracted from. She wiped and then sheathed her saber.

"You know, you didn't answer. Why don't you carry a gun? I can get not having a mechashift weapon. But no pistol? You are an Atlesian, right?" To be fair, it was quite odd. Winter was a specialist in the Atlesian Military. She would definitely have access to firearms. And she wasn't exactly a constantly on the field operator like Jaune was. He could guess her missions were short enough so that she could afford to carry a rifle or a pistol.

"Well." Winter trailed off as Qrow rose an eyebrow at her lack of an explanation. "On our first mission, my partner dared me to not use a gun. I, perhaps, got used to only using a saber since then." She seemed embarrassed by the fact, lightly blushing at the memory.

"Wow, I'd like to meet the man who actually got you to go along with something like that." Jaune winced as Winter's smile turned melancholic.

"They died a few months ago." And Qrow winced, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh. Fuck. Sorry, I know how that feels." Qrow, for all of his love of messing with Winter, knew there were lines that he couldn't cross. The death of loved ones was very high on the list. He nervously chuckled before heading towards the stairs in a hurry. Winter and Jaune followed suit, with Jaune giving Winter a careful glance and she simply returned with a shrug. She was still recovering from the loss, but she wasn't about to berate Qrow over what was obviously an innocent mistake.

On the fourth floor of the tower was a humanoid Grimm wearing a colorful dress and a decorated skull mask. In her hands was a staff with colored skulls at each end. With her unoccupied hand, she put up two fingers. Qrow, in particular, seemed to recognize the figure before them.

"Holy shit!" He actually bore an excited, nigh childlike, smile on his face. "It's actually her!"

"You know of this person?" Winter raised an eyebrow. In all of her times interacting with Qrow, she'd seen a wide range of emotions. Anger, irritation, melancholy, pure madness, and drunken euphoria. But never in all that time had she seen stars in his eyes.

"Yea! She's a legend in Mistral! The Grimm Reaper, the legend with a scythe! I'm her biggest fan, see?" Qrow pulled out Harbinger in its scythe form, spinning it around. "She retired when I was a kid, but she was practically an urban legend. One day, a town has to deal with a gang of bandits and Grimm attacks, and the next? The bandits and Grimm are dead and this lady is cooking a lovely meal for some beggars. She's part of why I even bothered with the tribe's stupid idea of going to an academy." Qrow smiled as he bragged about his idol. Jaune smirked, Qrow was practically radiating joy and pride from the memories.

"Hmm, I will admit, she sounds impressive. Regardless, she seems to be requesting a duel with two people." Winter, having already taken her turn, looked over to Qrow and Jaune. Both of them shrugged and stepped onto the mat. Jaune kept his shield up while Qrow, probably revving for the chance to face a projection of his idol, kept Harbinger in scythe form.

If it was Jaune that was Qrow's opponent, he would've been shaking in his boots considering how excited he seemed for the fight.

"I've always wanted to do this. Now I know what Ruby feels like when she's facing me." And with that, they charged in. The two skulls on the staff the Grimm Reaper Carried split, revealing scythes. As Qrow charged in with Jaune to create a pincer, she spun around. Her scythe caught the end of his shield and the force of the spin caused Jaune to crash into Qrow, making him swear at his semblance a bit. He rolled away just a scythe tried crashing into him. Jaune backed up, knowing Qrow fought best when given space to attack with his giant weapon. Considering the hooked tip of the Grimm Reaper's scythes, Jaune considered his shield more of a liability, so he collapsed it and focused on wielding Crocea Mors with two hands.

To put it simple, the Grimm Reaper was a monster with her dual kama staff. Even Winter nodded in recognition to the sheer speed and precision in which she spun it around. Qrow tried hooking onto the staff with Harbinger, but it was shaken off as the Grimm Reaper merely spun her staff around and made to attack Qrow. He withdrew and turned Harbinger back into a sword, knowing that it probably wasn't wise to fight with a scythe against the master of scythes.

Jaune and Qrow attacked from opposite ends, but both of their slashes were only met with deflections from the spinning of the Grimm Reaper's staff.

And then, the staff broke apart into two halves. The Grimm Reaper clutched one with each hand and begun turning the tables. Wielding one in a reverse grip to catch Qrow's blade, she forced Harbinger to move back before kicking Qrow in the gut. Crocea Mors was caught mid-swing and shoved to the floor, making Jaune stumble a bit. The Grimm Reaper then converted the momentum from the prior kick into another one, this time aimed at Jaune's stomach.

Both of them were blown away. Qrow at least had the foresight to back away a bit, mitigating the damage he would've taken. Jaune didn't. With a sigh, Jaune pulled out his flare gun. He shot at the Grimm Reaper, who instinctively made to cut it mid-air. The thing they didn't realize about flares was that the payload wasn't a shell that could be easily deflected. It was a projectile made of dust. Burning dust, but still dust. So, when she cut it, it sprayed fire dust all over her. Burning fire dust.

He could hear a pained scream coming from the Grimm Reaper as both Qrow and Jaune pressed the advantage. It felt as if she could predict their strikes, given how she moved before they even were half-way through their strikes and that Jaune was behind her. Hell, she even dodged so that some of his missed thrusts would clash with Harbinger. Qrow internally sighed, if he were back in his Beacon days, he would certainly get a lecture for the lack of teamwork.

But, as Jaune saw Qrow try to sweep her legs with his scythe, Jaune got an idea and swung for the Grimm Reaper's neck. As expected, she dodged by jumping and turning mid-air to sort of roll between the two attacks, having pulled out her Kama to try and hook them on their weapons. And, expecting that, Jaune kicked her while she was unable to do anything. Both of them were able to pull their weapons out before she could wrench them away with her scythes. The fight made her roll on the mat, but she stabbed the ground before she could go too far. She got up to dodge as Qrow tried to strike her with an overhead slash.

Qrow and Jaune proceeded, but they couldn't do much. Any strikes Qrow made was deflected and any Jaune made were blocked. Any hopes of Qrow simply snapping the wooden handle of her weapons was dashed by the fact that the Grimm Reaper knew that the wood wouldn't be able to handle that, so she simply didn't allow for that situation to happen by deflecting or dodging. And Crocea Mors didn't really have the weight Jaune needed in order to really snap the wood.

And then, Jaune got an idea. An idea he knew, instinctively, was incredibly stupid. An idea that would probably get him laughed out of any place with anyone who knew anything about combat. But, like any good combatant, he couldn't help but experiment. So, he sheathed Crocea Mors and didn't take the sheath off in his next strike. Qrow had been kicked away, so the Grimm Reaper merely put up both of its kama in order to block the overhead strike. But, as it committed to that course of action, Jaune activated the shield part of Crocea Mors' sheath. And it expanded. Jaune pumped aura into his weapon, making the shield more durable and sharper in preparation for the task it would be undergoing.

SNAP!

Crocea Mors struck true. Like an axe head on a branch, it snapped the two kama in half as the Grimm Reaper didn't expect the force of the strikes. Qrow, having gotten up, saw the opportunity for what it was, and charge forward with Harbinger. And with broken weapons, the Grimm Reaper didn't stand a chance as Jaune rolled away to see Qrow behead the Grimm Reaper with his scythe. As both parts of her body faded away, Qrow spun around his scythe before configuring it back into a sword and placing it on his back.

"Whoo! That was a good fight. Still wish I could meet the real deal, though." Qrow thought for a second before shrugging and turning to Jaune. "Anyways, what was that? Is your sheath even made for that? I mean, the thickness to length ratio is kinda off and, you know what? Not going to question it." Qrow shrugged.

"While in an actual fight, using your shield like that would be rather foolish considering the weight and how it takes away a defensive option, here, it worked mostly because the enemy wasn't expecting it. So, I won't begrudge the decision. But if you really want your shield to do that, I'd recommend getting that feature installed by a good blacksmith." Jaune idly scratched the back of his head, ruffling his already messy blonde mop, as he thought about it before shrugging.

"Eh, maybe. But that's for a later time. Plus, it's already enough on me to oil the sheath's mecha-shift features as it is. I don't need to add another configuration and increase the costs for that." He chuckled a bit. While he was incredibly low maintenance, his shield did need frequent oiling or else it wouldn't be able to turn into a shield. And then he'd lose a defensive option and that would be rather painful, considering how many times his life had been saved by the existence of his shield.

With that said, the group of them headed up another floor. And this time, they were met with a Menagerian Shaman wearing wolf pelts as a cloak with a large pack of Grimmified wolves by their side and a bundle of barbed teeth javelins on their back. They put up two fingers to the challengers, knowing they knew what it meant. Qrow whistled and provided context to Jaune, who seemed confused on why they were wearing all that.

"It's a Faunus spiritual thing. Connecting with and embracing their animal heritage." Qrow sighed as he pulled out Harbinger. "It looks like the big sword is going to get some use again. Plus, you got hit quite a few times during the last fight, kid. Just leave it to the adults." He spun out the sword as Winter pulled her saber from its scabbard.

The ensuing fight was fairly long. The Shaman (Jaune had made it a habit to name new Grimm) relied on its wolves in order to deal with Winter and Qrow. It chucked its barbed javelins incredibly accurately and with incredible force. The barbs meant that even if they didn't pierce skin, they still stuck annoyingly onto their clothes and forced them to take a moment to tear it off. Qrow made quick work of the wolves while Winter hopped on top of them as stepping stools while gaining ground on the Shaman.

In response, it merely threw more javelins that Winter either dodged or split apart with an incredibly accurate slash of her saber. Her assault was stopped by a bit in the leg from one of the wolves, which forced her to slow down lest she trip over and deal with the small pack of wolves assaulting her.

Jaune zoned out as his companions fought. They were much tougher than he was and they would almost certainly be able to beat the Shaman. It might take a moment to chew through all the chaffe, but the outcome was certain. So, instead of analyzing the fight, he meditated. His teacher was many things. Irritable, cynical, seemingly uncaring of his disciple's safety, and very pragmatic, but he was also very confident and wise. Not arrogant in his knowledge or abilities, but comfortable with how much he had and comfortable with what he didn't.

'Knowing everything is for losers,' was on of the many things he'd said. He also taught Jaune the value of meditation, at least using it in the frontier. It allowed Jaune to step back and reflect on the winding road he'd taken to arrive there. It allowed him to ponder on the endless possibilities of what could happen next. It also allowed him to simply forget the horrors of the world.

And there were plenty of horrors. He may have liked to think that seeing death had become easier, but it hadn't. He just stopped reacting, but every single death was another life lost. Every single corpse was a person with a life, with loved ones, with woes and with joys. He would never stop mourning the losses he'd seen. And even though his master was incredibly prickly, he refused to force Jaune to numb himself. No matter how many times he broke down weeping over a mauled wanderer or a destroyed village, his master stuck by wordlessly.

And when Jaune had cried himself to sleep over his first kill, he wasn't awoken to take watch that night.

And when he was shaken awake from his trance, he saw that the battle was over. Qrow and Winter seemed a bit ruffled from the rather chaotic fight. It was justified given the fact that they had to deal with a horde of wolves that poked at them. Even if the bits didn't even make a scratch in terms of aura, it still probably hurt like a bitch.

"Oi, wake up from your nap, we're heading up again." Jaune wordlessly nodded and they headed up to the penultimate floor, where their second to last challenge awaited them. Jaune guessed that he and Winter would be the ones facing it, given how Qrow seemed to be the one who took most of the damage during the fight with the Shaman and from the combinations they've done so far. And their next opponent was a seal.

A seal.

A seal wearing a helmet. A seal whose fin became an bone plate axe. A seal that was pointing its flippers up as if holding up two fingers.

A fucking seal.

Qrow was laughing, the bastard. Winter winced. Jaune had his head in his hands. And all three of them knew who was going to have to fight the bloody seal. It was a Grimm seal, don't get them wrong, but it was actually pretty damned cute regardless. Even if its skin was pitch black and its eyes were a crimson red, it looked pretty damned cute. And harmless.

That thought last for about five seconds as they stepped into the ring and were immediately attacked by the seal, flipping towards them and using its backside like an axe. Qrow was laughing the entire time, on the floor as he spilled mirth from his gut. The seal was unnaturally fast with its swings. Winter and Jaune could only flip, roll, and step away from each strike lest their weapon get wrenched away if they tried to block or deflect. The floor was torn through as they fought. They split up and the seal focused on Jaune as he put his shield aside to continue rolling away. Winter tried to attack its flanks but was met with resistance each time as the seal simply flipped around with ease.

Since it was focusing on Jaune, he gave up on trying to stab it and instead focused on his footwork and simply dodging the ridiculously strong axe strikes. Along the way, it must've gotten irritated with its lack of progress, because the seal then turned into a small swarm of rapier wasps that began stabbing at the two of them. While Winter was quick enough with her saber that she could effectively fence with multiple bullet-speed bugs, Jaune had to pull out his shield in order to deal with a vast majority of the charging wasps and use Crocea Mors to effectively fence with the rest of them.

After a large amount of the wasps were killed, the swarm joined up and became a man on fire. Or at least, a Grimm eye with a body made of flames. Jaune and Winter both had to back up as the flames began consuming the room itself. Qrow had to move as the space he could move in began to close.

"Here!" Jaune tossed winter some of his water dust, which she took, crushed, created an ocean blue glyph aimed towards the Shapeshifter (For what else could it really be?) and unleashed a rapid series of thrusts. The air pushed from those thrusts became slashes of water that were flung at the Shapeshifter's firey form.

And that, in the end, was what put it out.

The fires died down eventually and they were left huffing in a charred room.

"Well. That was weird." Jaune was confused over that entire fight.

"Incredibly." As was Winter. Qrow nodded wordlessly and looked at his flask for a moment before shrugging. And, with the fight having taken relatively little time, they decided to head upwards once more, to the seventh and final floor to the tower of challenges. And on the top, there was a figure wearing heavy armor like the generals of ancient Mistral but painted light blue. With the mask of a demon, two sheathed gun-katanas by their side, a massive bow on their back, and three fingers pointed upwards, the Lightning Shogun stood before them.

And with all three of them taking a step forward, the fight atop the 7 floored tower began again.

Jaune charged from the center while Qrow and Winter took left and right respectively. Harbinger malfunctioned, but only so that it couldn't transform. So, it stayed in sword state as Qrow tried striking at the Lightning Shogun as Winter and Jaune stabbed at it.

And in a flash, causing blue static to appear from the Lightning Shogun's body, they moved back in an instant, with both of their swords drawn. Qrow, Jaune, and Winter all managed to stop in their track before they crashed into each other and made again to surround their singular opponent. Winter, using a Glyph, leapt towards the Lightning Shogun, but was blocked and tossed away. Raising his shield upwards, Jaune used it as a platform for Winter to land on midair and then bounce off of as she charged towards the Shogun again. While that was happening, Qrow had begun an unrelenting assault on the Shogun. But every slash, thrust, and shot of his gun was merely dodged, deflected, or blocked. The Lightning Shogun was ridiculously fast for the bulky armor they wore, being able to dodge strikes in a burst of blue static.

Jaune felt like he remembered that power, but kept silent about it for a while as they continued to fight. Jaune joined Winter and Qrow as they assaulted the Lightning Shogun. Every dead-end slash Qrow made with Harbinger was covered by a thrust from Winter or a shield bash from Jaune. They steadily whittled away at the Lightning Shogun with impromptu and wordless cooperation, each of them covering moments of weakness for the other. The Lightning Shogun still blocked, deflected, dodged, and counterattacked in small bursts of blue static. The attacks were so fast and concentrated that they actually managed to get past their auras, but the small wounds that were opened were quickly sealed by their souls.

Jaune felt off as he fought the man. There was something familiar about the Shogun, but he couldn't say for sure. As they continued to stab at the Lightning Shogun, pieces of their armor gradually fell off. Pristine light blue armor gave way to reveal barren and decrepit rags. Sandals were torn off as they were stabbed in the foot during a kick. The helmet was wrenched away to reveal wild grey hair and a forlorn face. And a sword was forced out of their hand, leaving the Shogun only the shorter blade of the pair. And then, Jaune realized who the Lightning Shogun was.

Many years ago, a huntsman in Mistral rose to prominence. They were a part of the Mistralian military and were famed with many deeds. They were called the Lightning Shogun, for they were never seen without the ancient-looking light blue shogun armor. But one day, the Lightning Shogun died, and a man named Raiden was left in his place. Fallen from grace, left to die, and having everything he once had taken away from him, with the sole exception of a single sword for them to commit suicide with.

And so, what was once a living legend lost it all, left to wander the wastes of the world wearing not armor, but rags, and not with a small arsenal of weaponry, but a single shortblade. And they were a thousand times stronger for it.

And when the Grimm imitator of his mentor lost its armor and all but one of its weapons, he began to counterattack. In a blitz of blue static, Raiden disappeared. A large blue blur blitzed past them and, before any of them could react, struck Winter and Qrow into a wall. Jaune barely managed to cover his flank with his shield.

Qrow and Winter were lodged into the wall, only able to watch as their youngest member had to face off against the lightning quick enemy as it blurred around Jaune. Jaune, as Crocea Mors simply couldn't meet its target, began to breath heavily. Even as a projection, his mentor was just impossible to beat. He was too quick. He was too strong. He was too skilled. He was too desperate.

It was-

"I trust you, Jaune. And here's a token of that trust."

"What's this?"

"It's the secret of my semblance. This is all you need to kill me."

-possible. It was possible. This wasn't his mentor. This wasn't the Sword Saint always on top of the mountain. This was just a projection. Just an imitator. Just a fake. He just had to survive. So, calming his breath and closing his mind and ears, he entered calm waters, and saw no more reason to worry as he rolled and ducked and dodged and blocked the thrusts, slashes, and slams of Raiden. Qrow and Winter, still recovering from the blitz attack they endured, wondered what Jaune was doing. Against an opponent this fast, not seizing any sort of initiative was essentially a death sentence. Was he relying on them to back him up?

Jaune kept his senses honed on the lightning fast ripples that blitzed around the room around him. He spun to deflect a slash from Raiden only to roll away from another one. Every more was decided before he made it and ever single move was another step towards his goal. And as the ripples came to a sudden halt as Raiden became corporeal once more and skidded onto the mat, stabbing their blade into the ground to halt their slide, Jaune beheaded the Grimm parody of his mentor with the simple flick of Crocea Mors.

And with that, they had completed the 7 part challenge of the tower.

Qrow and Winter stared at Jaune, who had exited Calm Waters and tiredly collapsed into a sitting position.

"What the fuck? What was that?" Qrow was the first one to speak.

"It's a long story. You know how I was mentored by a random guy on the frontier? Well, he's what the Grimm we just fought was based off of. The Lightning Shogun."

"Uh, ok. But how did you know how to defeat him?"

"His semblance is Blitzkrieg. It allows him to convert his body into electricity and move at the speed of it at the cost of energy. He told me how he used it. Either in short bursts to make himself faster, or in a longer attack that allows him to charge at superspeed. The downside of the latter version is that it eats up his energy and aura quickly. And that if he couldn't beat his opponent by the time he has to exit the second state, he's already lost." And that was how one defeated Raiden. Instead of focusing on trying to counterattack and getting punished for it, Jaune simply had to put up a perfect defense against the Lightning Shogun.

"Huh, Lightning Shogun. Oh, I've heard of him! Didn't he die, though?"

"Proclaimed dead. He said he was betrayed. Refused to talk about it. Anyways, let's just go and find out where the museum is, I'm getting tired of this place."


And so, after they spotted the location of the museum from the top of the seven story pagoda, they made camp and began eating some rations. Jaune, in his boredom took out his deck of cards, releasing Darling once more. With a flourish and wide smile, she knelt down across from Jaune and brought out a chess board.

"You know, when I was younger, they played chess differently. Do you wish to try it?" Darling smiled as Jaune swallowed the bit of potato in his mouth and shrugged. With a snap, the board was set up with ridiculously detailed pieces. "Alright, the rules are simple. It's just like normal chess, with a few changes."

"Got it."

"Alright, pawn to d5. See, just like nor-"

"YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!"

"WELL I CAST COUNTERSPELL!"

"I ROLL A NAT 20 AND CAST FIREBALL ON YOUR FACE!"

"What the fuck?" Qrow's whiskey was spilling as he watched whatever the hell was going on.

"Do not look at me, I do not know either." Winter had her face in her hands.

"I DISCOVER A WORLD WONDER, THUS GIVING MY CITIZENS PRODUCTIVITY!"

"I SUPPLEX YOUR TANK AND DEAL TWENTY MILLION DAMAGE TO IT!" While this was happening, the chess pieces gave up on even trying to play by the rules and began engaging in miniature martial combat.

"Isn't this supposed to be chess!?" Qrow seemed incredulous on how a normal game somehow turned batshit insane in a few seconds.

"Now, move your last pathetic piece!" Darling's hair somehow changed shape to become a bit smoother, as did Jaune's to become a tad spikier. And somehow, Jaune was in a precarious position.

"My board has no pathetic pieces, but it does have the unstoppable-"

Qrow immediately flipped the board, ending the game.


All the rivers of blood lead to the museum, where they all flowed into a pit. In the middle of the pit was an island, or well, a mountain submerged. Essentially, it was an island amid a small lake of nothingness. The tea house was rather large and ornate, it being both old and if Jaune remembered correctly, a place where meetings between ancient nobility took place. There were also dusty bridges suspended between the cliff and the tea house. Winter made it across the pit with a glyph and Qrow casually defied physics in just leaping across with a start-up run, while Jaune had to deal with the bridge.

By the time he made it across, he was shaking with fear from the anxiety crossing that rickety piece of wood and rope gave him.

"Ok, let's get this over with."

"Yea, the jungle's gotten on my nerves. As has the blood. Seriously, I don't know why the tribe drank it."

... Winter and Jaune paused in their tracks, looking nervously at Qrow.

"Oh don't give me that look, it was animal blood. One of the tribe's mottos was 'never let anything go to waste.' Well, add a few more swears and that's it. They used the blood of livestock they stole and slaughtered to create soup and sausage. It's a delicacy." Qrow mumbled a bit more as they continued on into the teahouse. It was surprisingly empty, with barely any Grimm around. Jaune could sense a bare presence below them, but it was so far or so weak that Jaune felt like it couldn't be the source of the Mistralian quarter's infection.

And then they found the private longue, which is where there was a large stone staircase leading downwards.

And so, they headed down the dank staircase that smelled increasingly of blood. And soon enough, they reached the pit where all the river lead. And they saw a beautiful palace in the depths. It was practically a city by itself. With large walls covering the outside, a central fort obviously being the emperor's court, a lake of blood on one end of the palace and a barren courtyard on the other, and a vast amount of ornate buildings surrounding it. Patrolling the entire place were terracotta soldiers carrying spears, swords, and guns. Surrounding the palace they could see 12 beautiful jade statues glimmering from the scant light entering the depths. The statues were of a rooster, a dog, a pig, a rat, an ox, a tiger, a rabbit, a dragon, a snake, a horse, a ram, and a monkey. Each of the statues had the respective animal dressed in the robes of a noble.

There was a thirteenth statue, of what seemed to be an emperor, but it was torn down.

"Huh. Neat place." The stairs lead to a guard tower nearby the palace proper. Moving torchlight informed them of where guards were while lanterns lit up the palace proper. The weak presence Jaune felt before was stronger now. He turned to Qrow and Winter.

"Hey, sense our target?" The two of them were better at sensing aura than him.

"Yea, though it's spread out around the palace. Got a number, paperwork cruncher?" Winter rolled her eyes at the insult as she focused on the presence in the palace some more.

"Twelve. The target has been split up into twelve entities." Winter had her saber out as she scanned their flanks from the tower. She also got a few good looks at passing by terracotta guards.

"And I'll just do a mighty fine bit of guesswork and say that those twelve targets are the twelve nobles we got here." Qrow pointed to the twelve statues. "So, I guess we're doing some wetwork."

"Can you not make it sound like we're preforming assassinations?"

"Well, we sort of are. It's just that our targets are Grimm." Jaune was the one to speak up as he looked at the palace itself. The guard tower had an ample view of the courtyard and, from there, he could actually see a bit into the throne room. And on the throne was, what looked like, a dead jade peacock. He could also spot glimpses of a variety of strong Grimm walk through the halls. And, like the statues surrounding the palace, there was a boar noble, a tiger noble, a goat noble, a horse noble, a monkey noble, a dog noble, a rooster noble a rabbit noble, a rat noble, an ox noble, a snake noble, and a dragon noble. The dragon noble looked like a Feilong and the snake looked like the white half of a King Taijitu. The boar noble had the face of a boarbatusk, but stood upright and wore heavy plate mail. The monkey noble carried a large staff. The rabbit noble seemed to be working on something in their rooms.

"We won't get anywhere just standing here. Let's get going." And there wasn't much arguing with that. So, they went down the ladder of the guard tower and began sneaking towards the palace. It wasn't hard to sneak past the terracotta soldiers, given how their steps were fairly loud and they carried torches, but it did take a while of them stumbling through the dark to arrive at the courtyard before the emperor's palace.

With the held of a glyph or two, the three of them were able to find themselve in the rafters of the palace, crawling around. As they heard the sound of armor moving, they stopped and looked down to see the Pig Noble. On the back of their armor, they had some sort of insignia that Qrow seemingly recognized.

"That's the sign of the Rake Corps. They're one of the biggest private armies in Mistral. The tribe hated encountering them. Mostly because they had better equipment and actually put up a good fight."

"Doesn't the Branwen tribe run on Darwinist ideals?"

"Yea, doesn't stop them from being pissy about losing. Anyways, on top of doing stuff outide the walls, they also have a lot of influence in them as well. In lower Mistral, they are typically hired as private guards or even strike busters. Anyways, should we attack? It looks like he's alone in the room."

"We do have the advantage, I say we go for it."

"Yea, you two go ahead. I'm not exactly comfortable dropping this distance." Jaune decided to stay up, earning a shrug from Qrow. And so, the two of them descended upon the Pig Noble. Qrow slashed overhead with Harbinger and his full weight while Winter thrusted with the propulsion power of a glyph.

Cling!

Harbinger didn't cleave through the metal. Winter didn't pierce the pig. Its armor looked to be practically invincible. As the Boar Noble turned around, smoked bellowed out of its nostriles as it huffed in irritation. Qrow and Winter knew a losing fight when they saw one and ran the hell away. The Pig Noble chased after them, though practically at a snail's pace in comparison to the dash Winter and Qrow broke into.

Busting past another room, destroying some terracotta soldiers, and then hopping back onto the rafters, the two of them seemed only a bit worse for wear than two minutes before, when they hopped down.

"So, any luck?" Jaune was sitting in the rafters as Qrow and Winter huffed across from him.

"Go screw yourself, Arc." Qrow scowled. "Harbinger didn't even put a scratch on that helmet. And if we stayed any longer, I'm pretty sure we'd have been smashed into the ground." Qrow pointed downwards to show that, indeed, there was a large crater in the wooden floor made by the boar noble.

"Well, I suppose we should do some more reconnaissance." And that was as good of a plan as any. So the three of them got to crawling in the rafters, occasionally pausing as to not tip off the odd terracotta guard or noble, and explored the palace. They got a good enough read on its layout. In the center, there was the throne room, which was fairly empty typically. There was a courtyard, a dining hall, a kitchen, and also a variety of chambers. Of interest to each of them was actually the chambers of the various nobles of the court.

In the empty room of the rat noble, Qrow hopped down and actually searched it for a moment while Winter and Jaune kept a look out for guards or the rat. After a while, Qrow found something interesting and joined them in the rafters once more. He showed what he found: A paper with old Mistralian text.

"Uh, what is that?"

"Oh, sorry. Let me translate." He cleared his throat. "Plan for the death of the bumbling and brutish Tiger, Goat, and Horse nobles. They've disrespected me long enough. Step one, produce the favorite alcohols of the each of them by traversing the kitchens. Two, while they're drunk, get a chopping block and an axe, boil a large pot of oil, and a skinning knife, and place them in the room they're in. While they're drunk, one of them will chop off their own heads to prove their divinity. Another will boil themselves in oil. And another will tear out their own heart. When this happens, I will swoop in and kill them all while they're weakened and absorb their power. It doesn't say what their favorite alcohols are though." At the ridiculously convoluted plan, Winter and Jaune were stunned to silence at the sheer stupidity of it.

"Are you sure you're translating that right?" Qrow raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty fucking damn sure. It's just that weird. Dunno why we can't just shoot them, but whatever."

"If the nobility here wish to cannibalize themselves and make our job easier, I see no reason to argue." Winter shrugged, remembering that, indeed, logic had no place in the infested Vytal Memorial Grounds.

"Problems. One, we don't know what alcohol they like and where it is in the kitchen. Two, the rat will take their power and become harder to deal with. Three, where the hell are we supposed to get a stone block, an axe, a large pot of boiling oil, and a skinning knife?" Qrow chucked the last one at him, which Jaune caught. "I do not want to know what weird stuff this thing has done."

"We can just search the rooms of the Tiger, Goat, and Horse noble to find that out. We can also just kill all three of them before the rat kills them. And finally, we could grab a random rock, a stone axe from a guard, and a giant pot from the kitchen. It's just a matter of moving it all." Qrow thought that over and combined it with the fact that the palace was very heavily guarded. "Oh, yea that's going to be a bitch."

"While I would rather you don't use such crass language." Qrow rolled his eyes. "You are correct."

And so the next few hours was them sneaking in the rafters through the palace. First, they went to the room of the Tiger Noble and scrounged around a bit. It wasn't hard to find their alcohol of choice, given the fact that there were dozens empty bottles of 'yellow wine' littered around the room. Then, taking note of that, they went into the room of the Goat Noble, then the Horse Noble. They lychee wine and wolfberry wine respectively. That was actually the easy part of the task. Because next, they had to actually retrieve the materials for the convoluted and frankly stupid assassination plan.

"It's like putting up a noose in a guy's room and hoping her puts his head in it out of curiosity." Was how Qrow put it. To be fair, Jaune inferred that the targets were very stupid while drunk, but it was still a pretty dumb plan. Regardless, the Rat must've had a good reason to believe it'd work, or else the Rat would've never came up with the plan. Then again, that was relying on the Rat noble working on any sort of logic.

Eh, they'd just have to have faith.

"Ok, I was actually expecting something a lot worse." They were in the alcohol cellar. And, all things considered, it was pretty normal. It had a bunch of pots with various labels denoting them as different types of booze. Winter had to physically restrain Qrow from trying them.

"Qrow, they're creations in a Grimm created world, there is a more than likely chance that whatever is in there can and will kill you if you even do as much as touch it." Winter had him in a headlock as he (futiley) tried to reach for one of the pots.

"Oh c'mon! That one says its a few decades old! I've never tried it before." Qrow, for his part, was probably just doing it to lighten up the mood, considering how dark the cellar was. Jaune reminded himself that the man, while often incredibly drunk, was still a huntsman who's lived long enough to have greying hair. And Jaune knew the saying, "Silver triumphs gold and copper any time."

"Anyways, how much do you think we'll need to get?" Jaune looked around the cellar. It was remarkably large with rows upon rows of booze. Booze that Qrow was sallivating over.

"Considering the size of the Tiger Noble, we'd better play it safe and grab as much as we can carry."

"Did the plan say where this entire thing is taking place?" They gave it a moment's thought before Winter came up with an answer.

"I believe that there is a garden where we should be able to plant all of the necessary items." Winter's face paled after she realized the location of said garden. "And its across the palace."

"Oh you have got to be ki-"


And so, they carried fifteen (five of each type) large pots full of alcohol across the palace. It was difficult, it made Jaune's arms feel numb, Qrow grumbled the entire time as he had to carry alcohol and not actually drink it, and Winter was struggling with the load. They were all strong. Qrow might've slouched all the time, be he was no slouch when it came to being able to carry his weight. Jaune's physical training for the past year-ish, while not leaving him muscular (as that was hard to maintain with his lifestyle) still lent him plenty of strength. Winter was actually the worst off of all of them, considering her lighter frame. Still, regardless of their actual strength, it still was a struggle to carry 5 jugs each.

And worse was the fact that they had to do it while avoiding the attention and subsequent ire of the guards and the nobles.

Worse was the fact that those guards and nobles were everywhere.

Jaune never imagined that his experience being the pack-mule for his teacher (once the man got a student, he immediately indulged in the luxury of being able to pack a bit heavier and having someone else carry it. He also made Jaune fight under these conditions.) would actually come in handy as he tripped and stomped a terracotta guard to death while carrying multiple gallons of booze.

Never would've imagined.

"OK! We got the stupid booze to the stupid park. Let's have a celebratory dri-" Qrow pulled away his hand as Winter stabbed at where it used to be, the plug of one of the jugs.

"Do not waste our efforts. Anyways, we still have to retrieve an axe and a boiling pot of oil."

She let that sink in for a moment.

"Considering how the weapons of the guards disintegrate upon no longer touching their user, we can no longer use those. As a replacement, I remember there was a room with a halberd in it." Qrow and Jaune groaned. The room she was talking about was a display case for some obviously important artifact. One of those being a halberd behind some glass. It was also guarded by some very dangerous looking guards.

"Ok, I'll get the oil." Before Qrow could protest, Jaune spoke up. "You guys are way better at fighting than me, so it'll be easier that way. I just have to go into the kitchen, grab a giant pot filled with oil, and drag it here." And with that logic, they couldn't really say much.

Jaune regretted his decision after about five minutes into entering the kitchen, where upon the small army of kitchen staff began attacking him. Ridiculously sized cleavers swung overhead, blocked by his shield. Leeks were chucked at him like throwing knives, uncooked noodles cracked like whips, oversized skewers were hurled like javelins, and clouds of alcohol flames were puffed at him constantly.

The next half hour was a tornado of Jaune dealing with an incredible amount of improvised food-based weaponry and chefs putting up a pretty good fight. Crocea Mors couldn't get a breath of fresh air as she constantly drowned in the blood of the Grimm chefs assaulting Jaune. His shield had to block flames, soup, knives, vegtables, fruits, seeds thrown at the speed of bullets, and sharpened chopsticks.

He wasn't hit very many times, he was too good with a shield and thrown leeks weren't bullets, but it was certaintly a slog to tear through the entire kitchen, considering how tightly packed it was with kitchen staff.

After absolutely slaughtering the entire small army of chefs, Jaune huffed and puffed in extreme exhaustion as he stood (well, stood bent over) before a pot bigger than him, filled with oil. Boiling oil. The pot was also hot as well. He really should've taken the task of getting the axe. But, then again, knowing his (and Qrow's) luck, getting the axe would've been an even harder task.

So, without much room to complain, he had to figure out how to move the pot.

For one, he couldn't just tie a rope around it and drag it. For one, there were stairs. Doing that would also mean spilling a significant amount of oil. It would also slow him down and he was pretty sure he couldn't hide the pot with him behind a plant. Then again, it wasn't like he had any other options.

So, after bundling up some twine, and tied a rope around the giant pot and began carrying it to the courtyard. Before that, he took it off the flames and let it cool down, which took care of the problem of the twine burning on the pot. What it didn't take care of was the fact that he saddled himself with the task of carrying a giant pot through a heavily guarded castle.

Seriously, why did he always get the worst jobs?

He took care of the 'heavily guarded' bit by taking a kitchen staff uniform from a rack. It didn't fool the guards who came too close, but most didn't get in the way of the chef who was dragging a giant pot of cooling down oil. In the end, he was huffing and puffing once more as he lay down in the courtyard, having finally dragged the entire pot of oil (having spilled it on a guard only one time) to the specified location. On the table where they put all of the alcohol, Jaune put the skinning knife, and then sat down to take a breather.

After about thirty minutes, Winter and Qrow came by with a shining ornate axe, and with their clothes charred and torn.

"Yea, turns out they have fireworks launchers. Aura may protect us from bullets, but explosions still hurt like a bitch." Qrow grumbled some more as he collapsed into the grass, facing upwards so he could drink his alcohol without putting in any effort.

"That fight was quite annoying. There were an incredible amount of guards blocking our way to the axe. Anyways, we have the Severing Tool. At least, that's what the plaque called it." She shrugged. She couldn't sense anything special about the axe, so she was pretty sure it was just a decoration. Regardless, she moved a large rock to act like a chopping block and placed the axe next to it.

And with that, the trap was set. Well, the trap was set after they set up a fire to boil up the oil once more. After that, they opened one pot of alcohol for each of the nobles before going to hide in the trees.

This plan had better fucking work.

And so, the Tiger, the Goat, and the Horse noble all wandered to the courtyard to see where the smell of their favorite alcohol was coming from. Upon seeing the veritable bounty of booze, they immediately began drinking with each other. The alcohol, they realized, that was also made with the blood from the crucified people from above. (Winter rose an eyebrow at Qrow as he sweat guiltily) The Tiger Noble was large and obviously very fit for combat. The Goat Noble was scrawny, but their legs definitely had some strength in them. The Horse Noble was tall and slender and wielded a bow. And they all were very stupid while drunk.

So, with one of them saying something the three of them couldn't understand, they began a contest of strength. The Tiger Noble had one of the others behead him with the provided axe. The head started to come back, but before a rat could snatch it up, Winter used a glyph to grab it. Laughing at their now headless friend, the other two Nobles did their thing.

With that said and done, the Goat Noble submerged themselves in the boiling oil, which was remarkably painful for the goat, but they ignored it as the Horse noble, very bloodily, tore out their own heart.

Jaune, Winter, and Qrow almost puked. The only reason they didn't was because the Horse Noble was, in fact, a Grimmified horse. And even then, it was still pretty viscerally disturbing.

As all three of them were still living, the Rat Noble burst out with a dagger and proceeded to try and stab the Goat Noble in the pot of boiling oil. Seeing this as their cue, the three huntsmen burst out and began their assault. Winter dealt with the heartless Horse, deflecting arrows mid-air as she began fighting the significantly weakened noble. Qrow dealt with the dry-bottom goat and the opportunistic Rat. The Goat's oil bath meant their entire bottom half was grotesquely flaky and dry, making noises Qrow wasn't entirely comfortable with as they kicked at Qrow and the homicidal rodent. Meanwhile, Jaune dealt with the headless tiger, which was kind of a cakewalk.

Seriously, it was a headless tiger, what was it going to do?

Jaune really only had to block its clumsy swings while stabbing it. As he poked holes through the headless Tiger's rather tough skin, he internally remarked on how he got the lucky draw this time.

To make a long story short, they won. They eventually were able to kill all four of them. The Tiger was ridiculously strong, but without its head Jaune didn't have much to worry about as long as he kpet his guard up. The Goat's kicks would've been able to fling Qrow to kingdom come, but the fact it had bathed in boiling oil meant that its legs weren't as powerful. And the Horse may've been able to pin Winter with a dozen arrows in a few seconds if it weren't for the fact it was missing a heart. And the rat, the one who needed all of that to win a fight against all three of them, was rather trivial to fight in comparison.

And with that, they killed a third of the nobles. They could hear the cave closing in, as if the metaphorical supports for the entire area were being crumbled.

"Well, that was quick." Qrow put Harbinger in its compact form back on his back, a bit surprised at how easy the fight was.

"Indeed. I suppose following the plan had its merits."

"Yep."

And suddenly, arrows began to fall. Dozens. Hundreds. Perhaps even thousands. Stone arrows fired from a small army of guards that had noticed the intruders.

"Son of a-"


Turns out, every single noble in the godamned palace had at least one plan to murder one of the others. Were aristocrats always this scheming? Well, according to Winter, this was, if a bit exaggerated, a bit like life among the Atlas elite. Minus the rampant murder. Those were very rare. Usually it's more grandstanding, scandals, soft attacks, and other minor ways of irritating the other to make them lose face.

Also, screw Qrow.

"No! You cannot make me do this!" Jaune had his arms crossed as he pouted to Qrow, who was holding some robes.

"C'mon Jaune, it'll be simple. Just put on the dress, meet the pig in his chambers, and then we fight him after he takes off his armor to do, you know what!" Qrow had a smug smile on his face as he recommended Jaune be the one to take the role of the Boar Noble's consort in their trap. The reason why the Goat Noble wasn't able to fufill the plan was mostly because they weren't able to find anyone good enough to fill the roll.

"Why can't Winter do it!?"

"Because I and Winter-"

"Winter and I."

"Screw you." She rolled her eyes. "Winter and I attacked him, he knows our faces. He doesn't know yours. So, if you dress like a consort, or whatever the hell they have, we can then ambush him! You don't even have to do anything, just put on the clothes, sit on the bed, wait as the pig takes off their armor, and then kill him."

"You cannot make me do this!"

"Would you like to fight the Boar Noble? You've seen what he can do."

A brief silence reigned over the three of them as Qrow held onto the admittedly very good looking clothes.

And with a sigh, Jaune relented. "Ok, give me the stupid thing."

After a few minutes, Jaune came out of the dressing room wearing the robes and even having applied some makeup (he grew up with 7 sisters, he knew how to do it.) and, to put it lightly, he looked good. The clothes were long, flowing, ornate, and vibrant while the makeup he had put on helped soften the edges. Qrow even whistled while Winter smiled in appreciation.

"Damn, alright then. Let's go do a honey trap!" Winter sighed and facepalmed.

"Did you have to call it that?"

"Yep!"

And so, they set up the ambush. While Qrow and Winter hung by in the rafters, Jaune would sit on the bed wearing the dress. Crocea Mors was tucked under the bed. He wouldn't be able to contribute too much, given the fact that the long and flowing dress would almost certainly mess with his fighting, but it was the effort that counted. Plus, he was kind of the lynchpin of this whole thing.

Anyways, after a few moments of waiting, the Boar Noble came in, noticed the new, and attractive, person on its bed, and paused. It looked left to right, making Jaune grateful for his companions position in the roof, before beginning to take off their armor. Their helmet, their chest plate, their greaves, all of it, gone. And right as the Pig Noble approached the bed, something creaked behind it, and something clicked

BOOM!

Qrow set off Harbinger's shotgun, filling the back of the Pig Noble with buckshot as they held up their hand, conjured a rake, and began swinging at them.

The ensuing fight was a mess of all three of them stabbing at the Pig Noble, whose rake was ridiculously durable and very sharp. The intense pain in his arm when it briefly scratched him was testament to that quality. Luckily, without its invulnerable armor, it was a significantly easier fight. And with how loose it was, Jaune actually found fighting in the robes easier than he thought.

Still a bit messy, given how he couldn't stretch his legs like he was used to and he would occasionally trip during the fight. Luckily, he had two people making up for that difference with a blinding offense.

For all their mutual dislike of each other, they worked together pretty well. They fought on opposite ends of the Pig Noble in order to force them to split their attention, made sure to time attacks to cover for the other, and also avoid hitting each other. Jaune was included in this wordless cooperation, considering how every trip-up and stumble the other two hit a bit harder to get the attention of the Boar Noble.

In the end, it was a shotgun-powered slash with Harbinger that slashed off the ha-hooves? Hooves. The hooves of the Pig Noble, and with a subsequent thrust at the head from Winter, the Pig Noble was dead.

Yet another fallen, but they still had 7 more to go.


"Ok, so, if I'm reading this right, it says here that to defeat the Monkey Noble, who is ridiculously powerful, can clones himself, and has a staff that can extend to a giant pillar, we need to wrap them with a diamond snare, and then broil them in a pot?" Qrow read the ridiculous (even for the current standards) plot in order to defeat the Monkey Noble.

"Honestly, considering I'm holding the diamond snare, it's not too crazy." Jaune looked at said diamond snare, which was remarkably shiny and prickly to hold. "The problem is catching the monkey. If they're anything like a Beringel, then they'll be hard to take down." Jaune had a lot more experience with Beringels than he was comfortable with. The gorilla Grimm were ridiculously fast and tough.

"Eh, it'll probably be fine."

As they prepared the trap, Winter got curious and asked Qrow something.

"What were the nobles we've already defeated based on? You said the Pig Noble was based on Rake Corp." Qrow took a moment to think.

"Well, I know the Rat is supposed to represent Spider. They're an network of spies, information brokers, whistleblowers, and rats. They have fingers in every pie, is what I'm saying. The Rat Noble uses the same tactics as a Spider. Never attack directly. Poison, ambush, undermine. That sorta stuff. The Tiger Noble? They're probably the Hu Bounty Hunter Network. Basically, cause Lower Mistral policing kind of sucks, they set up a bounty system to alleviate some of their worries. Privatized it and out came the Bounty Hunter Network. They're actually making good money on patrolling the streets, though the amount of force used by their agents is pretty excessive."

"That sounds like a poor choice."

"Yep. Anyways, the Horse Noble was probably Packmare Delivery. They're the biggest small package delivery company in Mistral. Need dust? They bring it. Need a blanket? You'll get it in front of your doorstep in a day. Mail? They got it covered. They're actually pretty big in Vale as well." Winter thought for a moment before nodding in recognition.

"I think I've heard of them as well. They have several warehouses in Atlas."

"And the Goat?" Jaune got curious hearing about all of this as well. Considering how he was thinking of hopping across the sea right after visiting his family, it might be a good idea to learn about his prospective wandering grounds.

"The Goat Noble's definitely Trip Dust Mining. They're the big dust company in Mistral, though the SDC is competing pretty heavily. It's not family owned and since Mistral's been having a hard time, so has the TDM, but they are very influential and very old. Plus, councilors and constituents don't like the idea of some Atlesian Company coming in and taking over the dust sector. No offense, Ice Queen."

"None taken, surprisingly."

"Anyways, as for the Monkey Noble we're trying to kill. I'd say construction from the blueprints they had in their room. The name is, what was it? Oh, yes, Victorious Road Constructions. They originally were contracted to build the roads connecting Mistral, now they're the guys when it comes to building. They've been getting some flak for shoddy work safety lately. Besides that, not much to say." Winter paused in thought for a moment.

"Why does it feel like Mistral is ruled by corporations?" Qrow shrugged.

"Kinda is." A beat before he spoke again. "I meant that they have a lot of influence. Packmare doesn't like a bill forcing minimum wage? Exert influence by campaigning. TDM doesn't like the new Dust Tax? Lobbying. It happens in Vale, it definitely happens in Atlas, and Vacuo doesn't count. Actually, isn't daddy dearest on the council?" Winter twitched at the nickname before deigning to respond.

"Yes. My father does, in fact, have a spot on the council. That does not make him a dictator. He is but one man on the council, out of a hundred. And while, yes, he definitely holds that position due to being incredibly wealthy, Atlas is far from what you've described Mistral as." Qrow rolled his eyes.

"I guess. It's just a military state."

"Oh no." Jaune muttered as a familiar argument started once more as Qrow poked at the sleeping dog that was Winter's loyalty to Atlas. With a sigh, he turned to them. "Look, let's just do the ambush, alright? We can argue once we're out of here."

And that was as good of a plan as any.


"Welp, that fight sucked." Qrow grumbled as he rubbed his sore ass. In their fight with the Monkey Noble, they had their collective asses handed to them. Jaune, being the least skilled and slowest of them all, got it the worst. Winter had to actually create some ice so he could tend to his bruises (while his aura worked on them). They still won, having been able to chain up the monkey and throw them in the braiser to kill them (they knew the Monkey Noble was dead, given the further collapsing of the cave) but it was a very hard fight.

"I've been hearing that line a lot recently." Winter was grumbling. She really didn't like long term missions. It was only made worse by the fact that she had to cooperate with the most irritating man on earth. She'd really much rather head to Atlas, but she didn't become a soldier to just dessert because she felt like it.

"Because it's true." Jaune was sitting on some ice while applying some ice on his arm as he compressed some ice between his neck and his shoulder.

"Yep. Anyways, looking at these murder plans the monkey made, it seems like they got a decent idea. To kill the Snake Noble, we have to retrieve a specific prayer mat and then throw it at them to tear off their scales. Then, after that, we can trap them in a sacred alms bowl. Then we can like, drop them into the lake so they drown or something." He read all of that over again, wiped his eyes, and read it over once more. "Ok, by decent, I mean just as batshit crazy as the others. Well, not like this place runs on logic. Let's get to doing some crimes against Grimm!"

"Please, let's take a break." Jaune whimpered as he pressed ice against his bruises and sore muscles.

"Oh, yea. And I'm realizing that my legs cramping. Damnit, alright, fine."

After a few minutes of silently resting, their auras made quick work of their bruises, rejuvenating them for the next fight. After a bit of stretching, they went to a shrine, stole a prayer mat and an alms bowl, and went out to fight the Snake Noble.

The first part was easy. They found the white Snake Noble overseeing the lake of blood, sipping from it occasionally. With a shrug, Qrow decided to just chuck the prayer mat at the white snake, unsure of what would happen. What they didn't expect was for the mat to burst into flames that tore into the Snake Noble, tearing off their scales to reveal blood red Grimm flesh. The Snake Noble cried out in pain, which made the blood lake rise and begin rapidly flooding the nearby area.

And then, giant shrimp and crab Grimm soldiers marched out of the water right as they began advancing with the alms bowl.

Jaune had lost his ability to really be surprised at that point.

Well, almost. Then he realized that the shrimp were able to shoot air bubbles in the water that had the kicking power of bullets and that the pincers of the crabs could snap rocks. That was when he ceased to be surprised.

"Alright, I guess we're having seafood tonight!" The one-liner got a groan from Winter, who didn't say anything as they transitioned into a fight. The army of overgrown Grimm crustaceans were blocking their access to the Snake Noble. So, Jaune got to fighting through the small hoard with the others. They bunched together and began their offense, pressing deeper into the wall of shrimp and crab soldiers. The smell of blood, salt, and Grimm essence filled the air as they ventured closer to the center of the cloud of crustaceans.

Jaune routinely had to stab and bash the ground in order to kill pesky giant shrimp before they shot them with superheated air bubbles. Qrow, with his oversized sword/scythe, and Winter, with her powerful thrusts, made quick work of the small army. Qrow kicked a crab to Winter to stab while she used glyphs to toss a group into the air for Qrow to decimate. He remembered something his teacher had to say about the acadmies and the 'team system' (that Jaune, predictably, didn't know anything about) they used, "The mark of a good huntsman isn't if they can cooperate with their team. It's how well they can work with complete strangers and if they can go five minutes without strangling them."

By that principle, his teacher was a pretty good huntsman in one regard and very poor in the other.

He stopped his wondering as they got closer to the center, where the giant shrimps and crabs became more packed and vicious as they continued fighting. Jaune's legs burned from the numerous scorching shots aimed at him and the other two, but he couldn't stop to stab at the shrimp because the crabs were trying to maul them.

Qrow and Winter were, more or less, doing fine. Winter was bolting from crustacean to crustacean with her saber, practically staining the metal red. Qrow, meanwhile, was a blur as he swung Harbinger around to make a small clearing in the barrier of sealife.

In their efforts, they created a small passage that Jaune took. Ignoring the pain in his ankles, the pain in his arm, and the sense of exhaustion from constantly swinging his sword, he sprinted to where the de-scaled Snake Noble lay, coiled up, and stuffed them into the golden alms bowl they nabbed from a temple. Now, he was holding an alms bowl with a white snake Grimm.

"What do I do!?"

"I dunno, toss it into the ocean!?"

With the shrimp and crabs descending upon him, he really didn't have much of a choice. So, throwing it into the air, he wielded Crocea Mors like a baseball bat and smacked the alms bowl until it disappeared into the sky with a twinkle.

And with that, the cave began to crumple more, the flood of blood receeded back into the lake, and the crabs and shrimp retreated with the shoreline.

And yet another noble had falen.


They were in the Snake Noble's chambers to take a break in a place guaranteed to not be occupied and also for Qrow to find out what entity the Snake Noble was based on. After intense searching of the room (while Jaune and Winter took some time to recuperate) Qrow had found the answer.

"Hospitals. I'm just seeing a bunch of private hospital names."

"And what horrid injustice do private hospitals commit? Faulty treatment? Extortion? Poor working conditions?"

"It's overpriced for people who don't have insurance."

"Really, that's it? I'm fairly sure Vale has that problem as well." Qrow shrugged.

"Eh, yep. That's it. The treatment in Mistral is fine, the doctors and nurses are paid well. It's mostly just an extension of the wealth gap in Mistral. Poor people can't afford treatment and all."

"How is it in Atlas?" Considering how infamous Mantle was for dangerous working conditions, Jaune was curious.

"All medical treatment in Atlas is free and provided by the state." Qrow actually looked a bit surprised. "Mantle would've fallen apart if it wasn't, you know." Qrow whistled.

"You know, if aura wasn't so cheaty, I might be tempted to move to that snowy hellscape. Anyways, aside from care in hospitals, Mistral is the home of a whole bunch of spiritual and herbal medicines. Acupuncture, herbal medicines, rejuvenating massages, and those types of thing. The tribe, for their part, just wiped wounds with booze and bandages and called it a day." He took a sip from his flask before shrugging. "To be fair, we don't have access to surgical tools out there. And most of us were practically illiterate." With the mention of aura, Jaune realized something.

"Do dust miners in Mantle have their auras unlocked?" Winter thought for a moment before shrugging.

"From what I remember of hiring practices, the SDC hires miners as independent contractors. Their wages are entirely dependent on the hours they work and the quotas they fill. While some miners have their auras unlocked, its an expensive thing to have done. And if you're a miner, it'd probably cost a month's rent. While likely a sound investment, it's just not feasible for many." Yea, that tracked.

"Alright, enough of this, I've translated our next plan." Qrow had sifted through the Snake Noble's desk and found another murder plot. Jaune was starting to wonder how the 12 nobles haven't already killed each other, but waved it off as them not having the resources and being too cautious. Well, that and the fact that the Grimm probably weren't suicidal. "So, this murder plot is for the Ox Noble. Blah blah blah, stupidly long list of how the Ox is a buffoon or something, and here we have the plan proper. Step one, grab a cart." Qrow thought for a moment before reiterating that. "Ok, grab a rickshaw. Step 2, retrieve the following items: The gourd containing all the world's water, the bag containing all the world's grains, and the ore containing all the world's metals. Step 3, put these items on the cart. Step 4, the prideful Ox will then take the cart as a challenge and try to push it, only to be met with insurmountable resistance. Step 5, the Ox will then tire themselves to death in their own foolishness." Qrow took a moment to process all of that. Winter took significantly less.

"How are we supposed to carry those? And by the sounds of it, those would probably create a crater if we even tried to place them on a cart."

"Yea, unless you got an anti-gravity device." Jaune thought for a moment, and searched himself before continuing. "Those sound impossible to carry.

"Well, we just have to put our ba-"

"No, Qrow. I do not care what movies you have watched, we cannot carry those items by ourselves." Jaune chuckled, remembering a few movies and games where feats of physically impossible strength were displayed and he would clap and cheer at the sheer spectacle. Now that he was saddled with having to recreate them, he was feeling a lot less pumped and more dreading.

"You know what, let's worry about finding these stupid things before we have to worry about carrying them. I know where to get a rickshaw, but I have absolutely no clue where this gourd, bag, and ore." That was the crux of the matter.

"Hmmmm, maybe we can follow the plumbing? There are bathrooms and all. Follow the pipes and we'll probably find the gourd. As for the bag? I dunno, the kitchen? Storage room? As for the ore? That's a tough one. Maybe it'll be on display somewhere?"

"Yea, sounds like a plan I guess." With a shrug, the three of them got to work tracing the source of the palace's water. The bathing facilities constantly spewed hot water and they tracked the pipes all the way into a water tower, where all of the (non bloody) water was actually coming from. Climbing the tower, they found a gourd tipped over, constantly spilling water.

"Well, that's one down. Now, how do we-oh!" Qrow easily picked it up and (after getting over his shock) capped it. He began inspecting the oddly light gourd before finding a talisman and nodding. "Ah, a weightlessness charm. Got it."

"That's remarkably convenient."

"Yea, you know what isn't?"

"What?" Jaune looked around, there weren't any windows in the water tower.

"The small army of stone guard dogs that are right outside and rearing to bite our asses off for taking the gourd." And with that, the tower began shaking as the supports were chewed up by ridiculously sharp stone teeth.

"Huh, do any of us have explosives?" Qrow emptied his pockets, revealing a wrapper and some lint. Oh, and a stick of gum, which he prompty chewed up. Winter shook her head, while Jaune really didn't have anything he could use. His flares were more bursts of flame than destructive explosives. "Well, shit."

And with that, the tower promptly fell to the floor.

What followed was the three of them, lacking any sort of way to really beat the stone dogs, simply ran away from their very fast pursuers as Qrow clutched to the Gourd, Winter sprinted with military efficiency, and Jaune ran for his life. While they were running, Jaune got an idea.

"QROW! USE THE GOURD TO SLOW THEM DOWN!"

"REALLY KID?"

"JUST DO IT!"

"WELL, ALRIGHT!" Qrow, for some reason, popped off the cap and instead of just tipping it over, blew into the Gourd with all the force he could muster. After about half a minute of him doing that and somehow not losing any breath, he turned around and directed the Gourd towards the dogs.

What came out was what could accurately be described as a geyser of water spraying the stone dogs. Jaune was half sure it was only because of the logic of the stupid place, but erosion worked quickly and soon, their pursuers had been made into stumps. Qrow was blown back a little from the sheer force of the spray, but was still standing, somehow. He huffed and puffed, having probably put all the air in his lungs into that Gourd.

"Got an idea, air pressure and all." With that inventive use of the gourd, Winter could only nod in acknowledgement while Jaune gave a toothy grin to the dusty old crow's ingenuity.


"Ok, we put it on a rickshaw, took the seal just in case, and now we're here." They were in the kitchen that Jaune had (painstakingly) cleared out earlier. They had gone into a side room to find that, indeed, there was a sack containing nigh-unlimited grains. The weightlesness seal didn't make the bag entirely weightless, but despite its heaviness, it was easy enough for Jaune to carry. And given how long they've been in the palace, chipping away at the number of terracotta guards, they weren't interrupted much as they made their way to the rickshaw.

"This thing kind of reminds me of the Eyerot famine."

"Why?"

"Cause nigh limitless food is kept in the palace, while the peasantry starve. More specifically, a type of Grimm had begun infesting the crops, causing a famine. While it would die out after the source of it was found and killed, the famine hit farms and villages hard. The only people not starving were those with stockpiles. It was right after the Eyerot famine when the Feng Dynasty was toppled."

"When did it happen?" Qrow hummed in thought before giving a rough estimate.

"I'd say two hundred years ago."

"Hmm, interesting. Mantle also suffered a similar situation at the time. A particularly harsh winter led to Mantle toppling its monarchy after class disparities were harshly felt." Jaune chuckled a bit.

"Hah! That reminds me, Vale had a major flood back then. But the king managed to divert it by having a canal built and funding the building of new villages for those whose homes were run over." If he remembered his history class well enough, that period of time was called 'The Century of Trials,' where every kingdom faced one sort of disaster all at once.

"Huh." Qrow seemed to be deep in thought before shrugging it off.

"While this is all very interesting, it's not like this is all connected."

"Heh, yeah."

"Qrow, if you're about to go on an alcohol fuelled conspiracy theory, please do it elsewhere."

"Will do." Qrow seemed a bit sheepish for some reason. Jaune simply shrugged it off, it was probably nothing.

"Oh! Is that the ore?"


"Welp, it's trying to push." After putting the bag of grains on the rickshaw and coming back to pick up the metal, they'd finished setting up the trap. The Ox Noble came by and began trying to push it, just like the plan said, and was making absolutely no progress. They really didn't have anything to do as they waited, so they began talking.

"Yep. What's the Ox Noble based on, anyways?"

"Oh, definitely Bullhead Motors."

"Bullhead?"

"Yea, Atlas may be a tech giant, but the bullhead was properly made in Mistral. They used to be called airships, but Bullhead Motors made airships so efficient, fast, and durable that everyone began using them. That's why we call 'em bullheads." That was actually a fairly interesting piece of trivia. Jaune always did wonder why they were called that.

"Hmmm, but we do have Mantas, and battleships."

"That you do." Qrow shrugged. "But hey, not like you're going to invade us or anything."

"Oh, I wouldn't know." Winter took on a teasing tone, which both Jaune and Qrow thought was impossible.

"You literally went on a spiel a few days ago about how Ironwood has no aspirations of annexation." Winter sighed.

"That I did."

For a few moments, it was silent except for the Ox Noble's futile attempts to push the ridiculously durable cart. "Man, this is kind of sad." The three of them had pulled out seats as they watched the Ox Noble continue to try and push the cart, even making cracks in the ground as they stomped on the floor in their attempts to make even on inch of progress.

But, they may have cut the wheels square so that wouldn't happen.

"Yea. Honestly, I'm amazed it hasn't given up yet. Though, there was the old Bullhead Motors motto: If we can't move it today, we will tommorow, or something."

"That is remarkably optimistic."

"Eh, you needed it back then."

"Welp. While the Ox is pushing itself to death, want to go kill the other nobles?"

"Eh, sure, got nothing else to do."


With the Rooster(a manufacturing company), the Dog(clothing company), and the Rabbit(pharmaceutical company) all dead, they had come back just in time to see the Ox Noble drop dead from exhaustion, where upon it began disintegrating.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." The cave was really only the palace now, everything else back to being buried under rubble.

"Yea, but I feel like we're forgetting something." Qrow began counting (With his fingers) each of the nobles they killed. "Tiger, Goat, Horse, Rat, Pig, Monkey, Snake, Rooster, Dog, Rabbit, Ox. That's 11, if I'm counting correctly. Who are we forgetting?"

"I thi-"

"ROARRRRRRRRR!" The palace roof smashed as a giant dragon emerged from it, instantly spotted them, and began advancing. It was twice as big as a Feilong, three times as long, had claws sharp as knives, and was currently charging up an energy beam with enough destructive power to obliterate a boulder.

They, to the surprise of nobody, immediately began running in seperate directions to draw away the new Emperor's fire. Jaune, recognizing his shield would be useless, collapsed it to his side as he began sprinting for cover, though he doubted that'd help him much. The Feilong, far from being stupid, used its immense size and length in order to weave around the three of them, effectively cordoning them to the courtyard.

Jaune managed to slide under the Feilong's body and actually escaped the coil, though he had to leave Qrow and Winter to their own devices. He could go back in to help them, but what would be the point? He wasn't strong enough to tear through the scales of the Feilong, so he'd just be dead weight. But what could he do outside of its grip?

And then, with the sound of Harbinger firing, he got an idea. He bolted into the empty palace, all of the guards crumbled while the Nobles were slaughtered, and ran through the walls in search of an armory. If he could just find some artilery, and he was sure he'd find them in the in-palace barracks, he'd be able to do something against the Feilong.

And so, in storage, he managed to find a giant (cannon sized) firework shaped like a dragon. With a smile, he frantically hauled it out to the roof, where he angled it so it would slam into the Feilong's hide.

And so, with the ignition of his gloves, he lit the Divine Fury firework. In fact, feeling a bit ballsy, he mounted it. And with monumental effort to hang onto the projectile, he was launched with it at the rapidly coiling Feilong. Qrow and Winter were effectively being caged in by its body, but when Jaune smacked into it with the Divine Fury (he hopped off and clung onto one of the scales in order to not fall to his death) it exploded with lightning, exposing flesh under the scales, and providing all of them with a weak point to aim at.

The pain made the mighty and massive Feilong scream in fury as it rose to the sky, trying to avoid letting the humans hit it in its weak spot. Jaune was still clinging to it, but he wasn't about to let go any time soon. With a scowl, Winter hopped further and further up with her glyphs. And, because the day couldn't get any crazier, Qrow just straight up turned into a bird and flew right up.

After that moment of shock, Jaune shrugged, having seen much weirder things before. One of those weird things was living in his pocket, actually.

Anyways, they ascended fully out of the pit and went up into the sky, the Feilong shining under the sun, with a beam charging in its mouth. Immediately, it maneuvered midair in order to look downwards and fire mighty blasts of energy at the crow and specialist. Qrow merely turned into a human, kicked off of the wall of the pit in order to give himself momentum, and turned back into a crow in order to dodge. Winter elegantly twisted midair in order to move enough to dodge the rays.

And soon, the Feilong was twisting and turning midair, with both Qrow and Winter on it. Jaune found his footing and hopped onto the scales, its sheer size allowing him to do so without falling off. Its weak point was near its head, far from where they all were. While Qrow could turn into a crow and fly and Winter could use her glyphs as platforms, they would be blocked by the Feilong's body, so they had to run up its body, thousands of feet above the ground, trying to reach its weak point before they all either died of energy blasts or falling. Well, before Jaune died of falling or they all were blasted with the lasers.

Jaune actually began sliding on a downward slope of its body as claws sprang out of its scales, trying to maul them with the strength of a truck. Jaune merely laid on his back to dodge while cleaving at the joint with Crocea Mors, using the falling momentum in order to make it a clean cut.

Qrow and Winter, for their part, simply took the Feilongs attempts to block them by moving its body as a challenge as they ducked, weaved, dived, and rolled through narrow gaps and rapidly closing holes in order to reach the center of the chaotic storm.

And so, with Jaune sprinting along the body, hopping as it rippled to try and shake him off, Qrow turning from man to bird to man again, and Winter hopping from glyph to glyph, they all soon reached the center, where the Feilong gave up any attempts at self preservation and began to fire energy beams wildly at the three of them. Qrow merely swerved to avoid them, while Winter actually used slanted Glyphs to divert them. Meanwhile, Jaune just had to run extra fast to not get hit. The spots hit by the blast were scorched, but not torn apart like the spot where he had hit it with Divine Fury.

And so, soon enough, they all reached the head. And before it could smash them all with its noggin, they all reached the spot where the lightning had hit. And with their respective weapons, they thrusted into the open wound.

And with a mighty roar that could've ruptured eardrums, the Feilong began to die, its reign on the throne short lived, its aspirations crushed. The edges began to turn into dust as it wailed in agony.

And soon, it had become black dust once more, merely going with the wind.

Meanwhile, Jaune, Winter, and Qrow, were suddenly very high up in the air and lacking any sufficient platforms. Winter remained calm, Qrow turned into a bird, while Jaune began swearing.

"Godf- ok, I'm calm. Winter!?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"You got a plan? Cause I know how to do landing strategies and all, but we never covered falling a height that I'm estimating is like jumping off of Atlas and hoping you land in a pool in Mantle."

"Yes, I do have a plan. Now, if you will strafe near me, we will begin before we become red spots on the ground." Well that was an attractive prospect. With some midair movement, Jaune clung to Winter held out hand. And about ten or so seconds before they'd hit the ground, a black glyph appeared under them.

And it hurt when they landed, but like a cushion, it merely fell back and back, bleeding momentum into the black glyph and its 'strings.' And so, after a few seconds, they had reached the ground, where Winter began to struggle to hold onto the glyph.

"Get off, get off, get off." She practically forced him off of the glyph with her and, after they tumbled onto the floor, she let go of the glyph. It sprung up. While it didn't have anything to shoot up, it did move with such speed that it created a small sonic boom from the amount of force. Winter was huffing from the amount of effort it took to hold it for even a few seconds.

And then a crow fell down because of the sonic boom, which then shortly became Qrow, face first onto the floor.

"Well, on the plus side, it's not jungle anymore! On the downside, I just ate pavement."


AN: So, in a planned chapter, I'll have Jaune get some better armor. Theoretically, any suggestions for what dust infusion his gauntlets could have?

Also, the whole cloth bit, I'm actually stealing that from Japanese history, when they actually banned patterned kimonos

The Tiger Demon was a reference to the Tiger Demon from Journet to the West, flaying and all

That whole game sequence with Darling? Feel free to ignore it.

Also, to those confused about what's with these pseudo-real places created by the infestation, think of the Nightmare from Ice Queendom. But apply that to reality. Kinda. Or Mementos from P5.

Honestly, I feel like I padded this chapter a bit with the tower stuff and definitely with the 12 nobles. Like, with Atlas, it was actually pretty easy to just write it. But with Mistral? I kind of didn't know what to do. I'll have the same problem with Vacuo, likely.

The palace at the end is based on the forbidden city. The terracotta army is obviously the Terra Cotta Army. The 12 nobles are all the zodiac animals. The Tiger Noble, Goat Noble, and Horse Noble deaths were all based on Journey to the West's Tiger Immortal, Goat Immortal, and Deer Immortal. The Pig Noble was based on Pigsy from journey to the west, including the whole 'dress up as their lover' thing. The Snake Noble was based on the Immortal White Snake. The Monkey Noble was based on Sun Wukong and how the Heavens tried (and failed) to kill him. The Dog Noble being killed by a hook was a pun. The Dragon Noble being put in a cage is a pun.

Btw, for those of u wondering what company the dragon noble is, its the most evil one of all, the one with the most power, the one that has everyone quaking in their boots.

Retirement and insurance.

Oh yea, just a dumb note. Anyone writing a 'RWBY reacts to Multiverse of Jaune Arc' story, feel free to use this story as material. I'd actually love to see it, just make sure to credit me and post a review to let me know.

Another dumb idea I've gotten. Because I really don't want to give Jaune too many powers, how would you feel if I introduced someone who's been gifted magic? And by that I mean stumble upon a severed hand/arm bone that immediately replaced theirs, giving them the power of magic. That way I can worldbuild on how magic works without it just being Jaune being an archaeologist