Hate… the cold. Hate… the snow. Hate… the damn Grimm who just kept on coming. Wasn't Winter keeping the bulk of the horde occupied? If these are just stragglers, what the actual fuck was that woman dealing with?!

But beyond all of that, he absolutely, completely, 100% not a single doubt despised… the damn ice physics. Why? Why there always are ice physics somewhere in any given journey?! They are many things, fun is not one of them!

He was approaching the Faunus Districts, where his target laid in wake, doing… whatever the hell Turned do when they're not fighting or killing anything that moves. Either that or they were watching him trying to fumble his way to them and laughing their ass off.

Both seemed likely.

He grunted loudly, his irritation skyrocketing again, just like during the fight against the Queen Lancer. He envied his old self, the one that thought that Mistral was going to be the low point of his journey… such a naive soul, he was.

He slipped and fell again, right on his butt. The closer he approached the lower parts of Mantle, the more chill the temperature became… and the more snow gave way to ice. Poor bastards didn't even have a proper heat source, so now things were even worse. Lucky for them, they were out of it before they could see the eternal winter claim their home…

Unluckily for them, they had to pass through a desert full of monsters before they reached safety… the ones that actually managed, of course. You know, the classic "from the pan straight to the cooking pot"... or something along those lines, he was too cold to care. This world fucking sucks.

He continued on his way carefully, narrowly dodging an Ursa who tried to slide to him and take a bite out of him. Key word being "tried", since the big bear monster just… slipped right past harmlessly, running to get to him, but inexorably heading in the wrong direction. It would have been comical, if only he wasn't planning on murdering whoever was responsible for all this… oh wait, he knew! Fucking IronIdiot…

Misery does love company, as they say. And nothing gives more grief and misery than ice physics.

Eventually, slowly and using his sword as a makeshift pickaxe, he managed to get past the frozen patch of ground that had given him so much grief…

Obviously, he was immediately assaulted. Feeling like experimenting a bit, he wanted to see how dual wielding could be of use. Crocea Mors in its greatsword form on one hand and Mors Celeri in the other, Jaune met his opponents readily, to relieve some stress, mostly.

It was not the brightest idea he ever had.

He tried to lift his main weapon. He barely managed to do it to block the jaws of a Gryphon attempting to munch on his skull. The dagger came up while his opponent was locked in a stalemate with him…

Pinging uselessly against the bone armor.

It did absolutely nothing, and he could swear that the Grimm even sent him a look that just screamed "Really? That's all?"

The thing was mocking him, he was sure of it. A single hit with Crocea Mors with both of his hands was enough to wipe the mockery from the monster's eyes. Along with the things itself.

So, conclusion… his dagger was perfect for dual wielding, he knew that much… the problem was his sword. The greatsword form was too heavy for him to lift with just one arm. He was strong, yes, but nowhere near strong enough for that. On the other hand, the longsword form simply lacked the punch needed to cover for the dagger's lack of damage. All in all, dual wielding was cool in concept, but he simply did not have the tool necessary.

On top of having to sacrifice both his shield and pistol, meaning he had next to no defense and absolutely no range to speak of.

He barely had time to breathe before he was forced to roll away from a horde of Beowolves, who apparently didn't take too kindly to their friend being killed. Or what he assumed was their friend.

One slash from his longsword decapitated one, while he thrusted his shield forward, planting the tip of it inside the eye of another one. He shot the third one while it was mid jump with Mors Renata, before finishing things off the last one, hitting it with the pommel of his weapon, grasping the blade and driving the hilt through its skull.

Man… these things were relentless. Which likely meant that either he was being a beacon of negativity… which he supposed he was… or he was getting close to his objective.

Also extremely likely. And a quick check on the Reader confirmed it. Just after this corner…

The place was as wrecked as he thought. The tents were in a state of complete disarray, having been blasted off their original position and scattered around, almost forming a semicircle. The snow was not white… it was red.

Red from the blood of all those that didn't make it. Red… and pink.

Corpses littered the place. He could see a lone arm dangling from one of the tents. A torso with head impaled on one the many spikes created when the support pillars were destroyed.

A smaller body, locked in an expression of terror and pain laying close, with one eye missing. A child.

He remembered that child… he was one of the little tykes that he would accompany to school, everyday.

And at the center of it all, stood his target…

She was surrounded by her friends, naturally. United even in death… he was somewhat envious to be honest.

She raised her head, cocking the weapon on her wrist with an arrow, her pale hair now matching with her new skin tone, while the rest of her group disappeared thanks to the Semblance of the blue haired one, May Marigold.

In the end… no one is incorruptible, huh?

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ROBYN HILL, THE LIGHT OF THE PEOPLE

THE HAPPY HUNTRESSES

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He raised his shield just in time for the arrow that Robyn had previously loaded to explode against it.

Right, these sticks go boom. He forgot about that. So, what did he had to work with?

His main opponent's weapon was that wrist crossbow who could also become a fan or a shield. Not a particularly strong one, but it meant that Mors Renata was not going to do much. Her Semblance was useless for battle purposes at least, so that's something.

While her friends…

The three of them all shared the same staff/crossbow combo. The issue was their Semblances. Or more like… May's.

Being able to become invisible on command was not going to make things easy for him. The sheep faunus, Fiona, could store things in a pocket dimension… could be annoying, but negligible all things considered. While Joanna had no Semblance at all, she was all brute strength. A lot of brute strength.

Robyn seemed in no rush to come get him… like she was waiting for something…

A slight whooshing sound behind him gave the answer. He managed to turn around, only to eat a mouthful of staff from Joanna, who appeared from nowhere. Fiona and May were still hidden.

So, have Joanna attack him directly from melee, Robyn stayed far away on support while May and Fiona kept him on edge by slinking around, likely trying hit him in the back if they could.

They were playing to their strengths… thinking.

Strategizing. A first for Turned and corrupted people in general. He was getting stronger, yes… but so were they.

He took a Booster, deciding to use his classic sword and shield combo. He needed the latter to block Robyn's projectile, and his dagger was not going to help against a weapon as long as a staff. But mostly, he didn't want to risk it against someone of her stature and resilience.

They could strategize… well, so could he.

Jaune charged at Joanna, instantly slashing at her from different positions and getting into a stalemate with her. She was stronger than him, even in her transformed state, but he wasn't planning on winning that… he kept one eye on Robyn while he struggled against his current opponent's weapon. Wait for it… wait for it…

The second the leader of The Happy Huntresses released her bolt, he allowed Joanna's staff to slide alongside his sword, unbalancing the taller woman…

Right onto the projectile of her ally. The explosion caused a wall of smoke to rise, robbing him of his vision…

Fiona did not let the occasion slip by. One end of the staff met his midsection and he barely managed to tilt his head back to avoid the second. When the smoke cleared, the sheep faunus and Joanna had traded places.

All right, what had he learned from this exchange? The group had enough presence of mind to switch places with each other when one was in danger. And that, apparently, only Robyn was on shooting duty, which likely meant that she was the only one with ammunitions.

He switched his sword with the dagger, since his new opponent was daintier than the first. She was not to be underestimated, but between her and Joanna, he knew which one he preferred to fight.

This time, it was Fiona who ran in to attack, using her superior reach to try and keep him at bay… but he merely brute forced the longer weapon away, closing in to attack and scoring four consecutive hits, before the fifth one was blocked…

With her hands. The ones that she used to…

Fuck! He jumped back, just in time to dodge another explosive arrow.

Bitch just took his dagger!

The sheep faunus almost looked smug, having warped his weapon somewhere he couldn't reach. He changed his mind, Joanna was a much better opponent!

Back to sword and shield then… this time he was much more careful, attacking Fiona without overreaching with his strikes, keeping her hands at bay by bashing his shield against her face anytime she tried to steal something else.

He heard a muffled step from behind him, causing him to turnand block Joanna's strike, while he spied Fiona slipping away and disappearing into nothing.

Jaune kept on fighting, keeping in mind May's last position. The group switched a bit more frequently the more hits he managed to land, but it was too little too stretched out between hits.

But eventually, he cracked the code. May was using a pattern, stopping in always the same places to allow for Fiona and Joanna to continuously interchange. He just had to wait for his opening…

He pretended to be too caught up with Fiona to take notice of his surroundings, keeping himself occupied… until he heard the footstep behind him. Quick as lightning, he threw himself sideways, causing the bigger woman to crash onto her ally, and threw a fire dust bomb where he knew May had stopped.

He was right.

A scream was torn from the blue haired woman, who dropped her invisibility dome to try and put out the flames. Fiona and Joanna were stunned. Robyn was still reloading.

He had his chance. And he took it by fusing his sword and shield into his greatsword form and slashing, from her head to her toe.

May Marigold stopped screaming after that.

It went downhill from there. Joanna and Fiona managed to get back on their feet, but he shoulder checked the former away and slashed once more at her friend, ending the sheep faunus' sad existence.

Two down, one more to go…

Or that would have been it, had he not been forced to dodge away from a falling car. Fiona's death had released her pocket dimension, causing everything that has been stored to fall down from the sky. He survived the accident…

Joanna did not, having been crushed to death by a bullhead.

Sheesh, remind him to never underestimate a Semblance like that ever again…

In the midst of the wreckage he even found Mors Celeri again!

Only Robyn was left. Her weapon had switched to her fan mode, likely meaning she had ran out of things to shoot him. Good riddance.

She did not put up too much of a fight. Sure, she was fast and agile… but he already dealt with the likes of Blake. His dagger and shield were enough to keep up with the last of his opponent.

Just as a little revenge, he decided to eventually switch out his shield for his gun, just to play keep away for a bit and make her work a bit, like she did to him.

He was becoming a little bit petty, perhaps…

Once he was satisfied of playing cat and mouse, he waited for an opening in her attacks and shot the woman just as she was preparing for a stronger attack, stunning her and allowing him to finish the fight with a visceral.

Not clean by any means, but definitely stylish, if he said so himself.

With one last shuddering breath, Robyn Hill fell, joining her friends on the other side.

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CORRUPTION ERADICATED

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Obtained: Righteous Rebel's Aura

Aura once belonging to Robyn Hill, Champion of the People and firm supporter of Mantle. When no news came from the teams sent to defeat Salem and when Turned started to show up, Robyn and The Happy Huntresses did everything they could to protect the ones that remained. But when Joanna lost all hopes and transformed, she infected the other members of the group. Everyone else, paid the price.

Use this Aura for a greater purpose and save Remnant!

Everyone else… a single look around told him everything that he needed to know. Just like in Patch…

But a tiny morsel of information caught his eyes. Or two, more like.

First he had the confirmation that people transform when they give up and lost hope. Like they become mindless undead or something like that. The other one was that the infection could be spread from a Turned to a normal person.

Likely how Team RWBY got infected, since he really couldn't see them giving up, no matter what.

The battle also taught him that things were only going to be more difficult. They were evolving, just like he was…

Jaune Arc sighed casting a withering look at the former Faunus district… lingering especially on the small body of the child he knew.

No one was spared. No one and nothing. Just one more sin to add to the list…

Hello?! Is this thing on?! It is?! Noice.

Welcome back, dudes and gentleladies, to another episode of Auraborne, the show where progression comes both in positive and negative forms.

Whew, this chapter got dark fairly quick uh? It started somewhat humorously as well… what can I say, writing jokes and people dryly complain is part of my style at this point. Just read any of my other stories.

The first major boss of Atlas is down for the count, in what I believe to be the second longest fight I wrote, right after Yang's.

Things are moving along peeps and they're shaping up to be a train crash!

Review responses!

Eramis8: Yup, everyone has their breaking point. Jaune already passed several in his journey, and he's far from done. Winter is just going around, blasting Grimm around with her sparkly blue magic, what's there not to love? There likely won't be any new "main weapon" but there are some upgrades on the horizon.

Essiter1987: Yeah, better not to argue with everything that happened on these damn volumes. Agree to disagree and all that. Good for you that you still like the show… I kind of stopped after volume 6, when I saw how they completely butchered Adam's character for no apparent reason. I was already disgruntled with how things were shaping up to be, that was the final blow. Watts is amazing, easily the best villain of the show. Pity he's dead. One thing that solidified itself while I was watching 7 and 8 was that, no matter the show's quality in storytelling, voice acting is absolutely top notch. Better than many official products that get released today. Shame that Yuri Lowenthal got stuck having to play Mercury with his… maybe five sentences every three volumes.

I am eagerly waiting for Shadow of the Erdtree. My "sensei" and I are on the edge of our seats at this point. This story's DLC is still a big "work in progress". I have no real plans for it atm, only that it's going to be fairly short, as to not drag the whole thing more than it should, and not really story heavy. Cinder will show up, but much later on. I have plans for her and the other big baddies. Yes, even the dead ones.

As for the epilogues, I don't think it matters too much by now. Even Vacuo on this story will be completely different from whatever CRWBY might end up cooking (or undercooking, if we go by habits). Thanks dude, you stay awesome as well!

That's all folks! Ta-ta for now!