Hello everyone. Now, I know that I should be studying, but I was on the road for the entirety of this day and can't focus on studying. So I continue writing this. Tomorrow I will focus on my study since I won't be going out anytime soon, so yeah, no update until late May.
Wish me luck guys, and have a nice day for all of you.
"This is madness! What were you thinking Oz!? Are you sure bringing this hell to the world can help us slay the Accursed Queen?! HAH?!"
"Once again, my friend, I have made my decision, and once again I reiterate to you... For the world, no cost is too great."
"Then I, Jason Oliver D'Arc, Lord of All that is Golden, declare war against His Majesty Ozman Prasinus et Nix!"
"So be it."
And so, King Ozman with Destruction as the judge, and Grandcrest Jason with Crocea Mors eager for blood, waged war that would later be known as 'The Fall of The Emerald Order'.
Waking up was an occasion that Jaune Arc loved for as long as he lived. In fact, he hoped to be greeted always with its pleasant feeling so that he could feel motivated in doing whatever he should be doing on that day. Usually, meaning out in the wild, he would found himself awake safe and healthy without a scratch due to strategic sleeping arrangement that the Grimm failed to notice. After that point, he would tidy up his sleeping equipment, did his morning routine, made simple breakfast, and walked towards where his fate led him. He had reach Vale of course, so no waking up under the usual canopy of trees.
When he woke up, he didn't just open his eyes. He first registered that he was awake still with eyes closed. If he felt no immediate danger to his being, he would laid there for maybe an extra minute savoring the euphoric sensation of simply waking up before beginning his daily routine. When he was lucky, this happened to him on a consistent daily basis. When he was unlucky, he failed to experience this for a week straight.
His experience of waking up in an urban setting, specifically Vale City, should be filled with warmth that encompassed his whole body. Instead, his entire body felt uncomfortable and a pounding headache plagued his head. Somehow, he was still keeping his eyes closed despite all of that, habits die hard he supposed.
He first assessed his surrounding as best as he could like he usually did. Soft surface was where he slept, he noted, definitely Ruby's couch. His dangling right arm could feel the empty cans of beer he and Ruby downed last night. Then he finally noticed that his chest felt heavy. Wait... there was something on top of him, on top of his bare chest he realized.
If he wasn't awake before, he certainly was now.
Opening his eyes and looking down at his chest, he found his host peacefully slumbering there. Completely naked he might add, and so did he. The Jaune Arc from years ago would be so flustered with seeing such wonderful sight and averted his eyes. The current him just basked at Ruby's heavenly form and committed it all into his memories. Her angelic face as she faintly snored? Framed by her unkept hair? First thing he noticed. Her decently sized breast? C cup? Imprinted on his abs. Her ass? He couldn't see them, his right hand could get a feel though.
The smell?
Inhale.
"We had sex alright. Now, wasn't that an interesting development... Just arrived yesterday, joined the Index, and tasted some expensive meat. Maybe, living here isn't that bad?"
As he thought about that, his right hand slowly snaked towards Ruby's ass and gave them a tight squeeze.
"Aah~"
That elicited a moan from Ruby, simultaneously awakening her.
"Hey Ruby, morning."
She chose not to answer him and let her eyes roamed his chest before slowly moving upwards and into his eyes. There was no word exchange between them, just two people barely knowing each other that got into the moment, and maybe with a lot of alcohol.
A shining silver gazing into a deep blue sky. Slowly, Ruby inched closer and he angled himself up a bit, ready to receive the hungry Ruby. However, before their lips could savor each other once more, Ruby grimaced and brought her hands to her mouth.
Johnathan was about to ask what was wrong, but she stood hurriedly and ran (giving him a nice view of her ass jiggling) to the bathroom. It's door was flung open and she emptied last night's content into the toilet.
"Yep, was wondering myself whether she will vomit or not. She drank way too much last night for someone who can hardly resist alcohol, should have stopped her, but I guess I'm also drunk... What did we do again last night? Ate dinner, were attacked, reached here, beer, Ruby... and maybe came in her ass twice... that's all right?"
Despite his burning desire to be worthy of Crocea Mors, Johnathan Amsel did know how to have fun, like what his father used to say, "Pace yourself, son. It's no use if you lose yourself in the process." And for the record, this wasn't the occasion where he lost his virginity, no. That was when Nora and Ren invited him for a threesome. Suffice to say, he vowed not to have sex with Nora again, he almost got his balls crushed.
"Yeah... maybe that's all... How's Ruby doing by the way?" he glanced to the right, "She's shitting now, and by the sound of it... last night greatly upsets her stomach. Welp, I better do something."
Johnathan stood from the couch and glanced around the room. It was messy, beer cans being the majority—the only trash. There were clothes, but he wouldn't put them within the trash category. Cleaning them ASAP would be good, but his stomach reminded him that maybe starting the day with some organic sustenance would prove beneficial.
"Ruby! What do you usually have for breakfast?"
A low moan came from the toilet, "...kitchen..." followed by her stomach rumbling.
He should've expected that answer. Ruby's kitchen was quite big when he considered the size of the room, like, one-third of the room was a kitchen, not including a dining table, and the rest was the living room, including the dining table. Small and homey, a contrast from the Arc manor, but something he could appreciate.
Johnathan checked the fridge and its content disappointed him somewhat. Only vegetables and bread... and the vegetables were not even fresh. Ruby did say something about her huge debt with The Boss, so buying something dirt-cheap and could be kept for a long time was reasonable and practically encourage. Although, this was too minimal in his opinion.
How about canned food? Did ruby have canned food?
He then checked the cabinet, and there were indeed canned food. Normally, having canned food for breakfast would be a normal thing even in the wild. However, Ruby still had some leftover vegetables, which would be very unfortunate if it go to waste. He decided he would make something with them plus other ingredients Ruby might had.
"Let's see... we have salt, pepper, oil, MSG... what the hell is MSG? Dashi... Dashi? They sell instant dashi here?" He had to ask about this, "Ruby! You cook with dashi?"
"...giiift..." she croaked out.
"Huh, should have expected that. I should be able to make something decent with this. Ren would beat my ass if I use this, but hey, dashi is dashi."
With all ingredients ready, he decided to make sandwiches and bean sprout soup. Simple, easy to make, good taste. He only needed a pot and some water for it.
By the time Johnathan finished cooking, Ruby had finished her business and was laying down on the couch while moaning in pain and still naked.
"Have some food here, especially the soup. It'll make your stomach a lot better."
Ruby glanced at the offered food and immediately brought the soup to her lips, "Ahhh~ Thanks, been a while since I have something this good." He arched an eyebrow and she clarified, "Like, an actual food. Cooked by someone from the ground up. Big Steel usually comes every week to give me food, but he's on a mission for months now."
Johnathan was even more puzzled by now, "Ruby, this is a soup. A bean sprout soup. Made from water, dashi, and bean sprout, and maybe some variations. Anyone can make this."
"Well yes, but yours is just better than mine! I only buy food to fill my stomach; never actually bother to learn how to make something good."
"But you could make something good. Surely you can take cooking as your hobby and relax after a long mission. Kill two Grimm with a single bullet—wait make that three, you relax, you learn to cook, you eat good. Simple."
Ruby pouted, she actually pouted. The view was hilarious to him, "But who will take care of my weapons?"
That was a peculiar counter argument to make, "Ruby, you have plenty of time for your weapons. You need to take care of yourself and think about your dream. For that, you need a healthy body, and a healthy body means good food. Your life is not just weapons—"
SLAM
Johnathan halted his talk, looking at Ruby's hand in surprise. Ruby always presented herself as a calm and somewhat bright individual, albeit a bit burdened. So it came as a surprise when she took his advice a bit aggressively and slammed her hands onto the table. When his eyes rose to meet hers, he knew he had offended Ruby somehow.
"What the hell did I say to get that reaction?"
"They are not just weapons, John! They are my life!"
"Wha—Ruby, calm down."
"They are my life John! Without them, I'm just a lowly Index runt who is no stronger than a Plague! With them, I can be a Star! I can reach my sky!"
By then, the distraught eyes he associated with Ruby had fully morphed into something—fury and desperation. A woman who was on the brink, just like him a few years back. Dreamed as high as the sky they say... and Ruby was desperate to reach that sky. Huh, it seemed that they might have more in common than Johnathan initially thought.
"Then this Big Steel must be a proud man to raise someone who earnestly chases their dream," he blurted out without thinking. In this kind of situation, the best of course of action would be to wait for Ruby to calm down, or diverted her attention somehow. He chose the latter, but his attempt at it sounded awkward, even to him.
Somehow, that sentence caught her off guard. Eyes unfocused, the fiery energy in them gradually dwindled down, until embers remained, before finally sitting down again. Her forgotten bowl of soup was picked up and she gulped down the soup hungrily.
"So... you good?"
The bowl returned to the table, now empty, "Yes... sorry about that..."
"Nah, It's fine. Faced something crazier in the past, but let's not talk about that. Let's talk about what kind of a man Big Steel is. Must be a great man you look up to."
She chuckled from that, good. "Yeah, I look up to him, figuratively and literally, like he towers over me. And he's not a guy, he's a robot. Big Steel is the A.I. that controls the robot, a sweet and caring one. Usually only speaks with single words, but got the message across somehow."
Johnathan blinked, dumbfounded, "A robot? You mean like those iron golems?"
"Yeah, the very one, but more advance."
"Wow... back in the frontier, something like that was rare. Founding an iron one that could move all fingers fluidly was even more so. Although, if something as good as that exists outside, the owner would profit more if they sell it as prosthetics. Oh, prosthetics, how cheap are they here now that I think about it."
"Cheap. Not dirt-cheap, but still cheap enough that the worst prosthetic could get you a decent suit without any enchantment... Wait, a suit... did they tell you when you could grab your uniform?"
"No. I went with you yesterday, so I thought you would know. And speaking of that, how about our mission? Any idea when it would start?"
A flicker of concern appeared in her eyes. Without warning, she frantically searched under the pile of cans and clothes for something. It was her scroll, "You make a good point, John. But we shouldn't be worried. Something big like this should be notified in advance. So I don't think we are missing something—"
Suddenly Ruby went quite, and her expression paled. That was a few seconds after the screen of her scroll lit up.
"Ruby... you're kinda scaring me there."
"Johnathan..." she began slowly, "We have less than an hour to prepare."
In their panic state, it just registered in their brains that they were still naked, and now they scrambled to be presentable as fast as possible.
Ermessia woke up fresh this morning, which was a blessing to her. Yesterday, she just returned from a weeklong escort mission from Biliton, and considering that Biliton was a prominent yet dangerous Dust mining facility in Vale plus her bitchy client, her sleeping condition was less than preferable. She had hoped to meet her bed as soon as she reached Vale, but no, since she was nearby The Boss tasked her to grab Mister Amsel and Ruby. Only after that, and a small briefing, that she was allowed to rest, and rest she did.
The result was a smiling woman with a bed hair free of burden. And so, she began her day slowly. Savoring the taste of a double-shot espresso and spending her time in the bath liberally, she genuinely felt that this particular morning was a gift from the gods after months of stacking missions with barely a break between them.
And then Georgie came, she could still hear his words ringing in her head.
"Did you fucking doze off at the briefing? We were supposed to discuss how we proceed with the case today at your place. Don't tell me you haven't notified the two runts."
She went hysteric after that. Hurriedly notifying Ruby and properly dressing up, she now sat beside her dining table waiting patiently for Ruby and Johnathan to arrive.
Meanwhile, Georgie was balancing himself on top of a chair that stood with only one of it's leg... yeah, when Georgie was nearby, there wouldn't be a shortage of interesting sight to see.
"More like bizarre actually."
Her comment was justified because of two things. First, Georgie was huge, a head taller than her and half an arm wider. Second, Georgie was fully made of metal. As such, it shouldn't be possible for someone his stature and weight to accomplish such stunt. Unfortunately, logic had never been logical after the Great War.
"They're late," he hopped down as his bucket head, the only visible part of his body, looked at her.
She ignored the statement, "I'm still curious how your body works under that cloak."
"You are supposed to answer that."
"That's not even a question."
"Bah, humor me will ya?"
"Fine. Our temporary assistants are behind schedule due to my compromised mental wellbeing after ridiculous hours of grinding tasks as per The Boss' will. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
"Can you please talk normal?"
"Complain all you want—"
"Complain? Hell yeah I will complain. Why is that shitty Ruby even in this team?"
"I thought you care for her."
"That's BigBig. I don't have a shred of respect for her, much less care."
"But you live with her for years. If Big Steel can display care, so can you."
"I can't respect someone who mope and cry everyday."
"She was a kid back then!"
"But she's a grown ass woman now! She may have the desire for revenge but what does she do? Improve her body? No. She ignores her body and keep scavenging weapons like a hungry vultures. She lacks the will to stand up straight!"
"You do know that everyone has their own circumstances?!"
"Fuck circumstances, look at me! Fate screwed with me and look what I do, move forward. Fight. Never give up.
And speaking of circumstances, Ruby was this close from turning into a Distortion if not for BigBig. If Crow and Ol' Oz never saw interest with her, Boss would've murk her-"
Without warning, Georgie ceased all of his movement. His red visor blinking rapidly before finally turning blue.
"My apologies," Finally, the A.I. known as Big Steel took over, "Georgie's mental capacity tends to be unstable when Ruby is brought into the conversation."
Ermessia released a sigh, "I am used to it, but he never go to this extent."
"Indeed. This is a first for me too."
She released another sigh, "Hmm Hmm." and finally let herself relax.
"Then, resuming from Georgie's last statement. Third Ring Candidate Ermessia, would you mind shedding some light to a question of mine?"
And then she couldn't relax anymore.
"Please, don't be suspicious of me. The Boss deemed it beneficial for me to be aware of your status beforehand, and the nature of my question could only be answer from someone of high standing within the Index."
She let out yet another sigh, "Ask away."
"Is it true that The Boss considered the notion of killing Ruby?"
"No... that was the First Ring's idea actually. The Boss shut that down before he could go with it though."
"I see... Thank you for answering my question."
"Then, since I answer yours, would you mind answering mine?"
"I do not mind."
"Alright, do you feel guilty by concealing the existence of Georgie from Ruby? Or anyone for that matter?"
Big Steel tilted his head, seemingly confused with the question, "I do not yet comprehend the feeling of human guilt. Thus I can 100% confirm that I do not feel guilt. However, if you ask whether my choice is right or wrong, then I can say it was the right one."
"What makes that choice 'right' for you then?"
"The Boss wills is to keep the existence of Georgie Steel a secret except from a select few. If he wills it then it must be correct."
She supposed that kind of thought process was normal for an A.I. Big Steel first developed a shred of humanity when interacting with the grieving Ruby, thus making it logical for him to develop a father-daughter relationship. Still, it wasn't enough incentive for him to disobey The Boss direct order.
It was at this moment that her front door burst open, drawing their attention to the visitors. As expected, the visitors were Ruby Rose and Johnathan Amsel, although not in their best state.
Both of them looked disheveled. Ruby's hair was still down and some of her uniform's buttons were inserted into the wrong hole, at least she didn't forget her gloves. Johnathan Amsel was surprisingly in a better state than Ruby, already wearing the Index uniform with his weapon at his side, only his hair could be considered untidy. Then there was the smell.
"The smell of alcohol and sex is prevalent. For someone who just arrived yesterday, Johnathan already has the air of a city dweller after a night with Ruby. Interesting."
Ruby spoke first, "Pardon our tardiness, Senior Ermessia. We were—Oh! Big Steel! When did you return?!"
She should be offended for that, yet seeing an excited Ruby dangling from Big Steel's head made her smile.
"Did you miss me?! Did you miss me?!"
All she got was a, "Negative." Next Big Steel put her down and began tidying her clothes, which made her yelped in embarrassment.
Ermessia clapped her hands, gaining everyone's attention in the process, "All right everybody's here. Ruby, Johnathan, please take a seat. We will soon begin our briefing. And Johnathan, take these gloves, each can store upto 10 kilograms of weight. It's mandatory for this team."
She waited until Johnathan wore the gloves before starting. Her scroll was set down and it expanded into a holo screen displaying necessary information.
"First thing first Johnathan, do you recognize the name Mister Matchlight?" He shook his head, "You came from Eastern region then?" A nod, "Does Torchwick rings any bell to you?"
A flash of recognition, "Yes, we from the East heard rumors about that warlord who rebelled against The Council a few years back. But we didn't really pay that any mind, didn't affect our lives, so why bother?"
"Alright, at least you have some context before going in."
She made a swiping motion on the holo-screen. What appeared on it was a burning skull wearing a bowler hat that seemed to be smiling, "This is Mister Matchlight, or some known as Torchwick."
Ruby tensed, which was noticed by everyone, and prompted Big Steel to scoot closer to Ruby.
"The earliest record we have of him came from the Island of Patch, ninth of May 71 AGW. There was an explosion reportedly claiming the life of 44 individuals. This is believed to be the awakening of Mister Matchlight. After that, he began his crime spree in Vale.
In 77 AGW, The Council branded him as Civil Impurity after accidentally murdering Councilman Lamond's daughter. He immediately went into hiding.
In 80 AGW, He became a World Plague after rallying Southern Vale to rebel. Ozpin The Owl personally led Vale Army against the rebellion. Matchlight was declared KIA in the battle.
In 84 AGW, he resurfaced in New Glenn and immediately branded as a Star of The City and until now has been stockpiling Dust for reason unknown and spotted working together with the new uprising White Fang. That is all we have, any question before I proceed?"
Johnathan raised his hand, "Why The Council doesn't get rid of him?"
"Simple, his threat level is not justifiable to be classified as Civil Impurity or even a World Plague like before. Thus, Valean Army can only put mission regarding him on lower priority. As per the international clause, Council of each kingdom 'must focus' on the effort of eliminating international problem that threaten the existence of Humanity, thus making Star of The City threat mainly being handled by Fixers."
She could see Johnathan was puzzled by the explanation, "Is there even something that really threaten the world right now that even The Council must focus on instead the guy that staged a rebellion? And what is a White Fang?"
"The White Fang hasn't reach your place?"
"I would've heard about them if that was the case."
"Fair enough. Regarding your first question... When the kingdoms finally restored order, they discovered the existence of Salem, the Queen of The Grimm. She was immediately branded as a World Impurity and the kingdoms made joint effort to exterminate her with all awakened E.G.O. users participating. The result is what you see now. Colossal expansion, the Grimm was mostly pushed back, and pretty much the life you live today. Unfortunately, the Grimmland was too defended so large campaign to the Queen was deemed impossible. After that, since Salem's threat has been mitigated somewhat, her threat level was reduced to Star of The World, not high enough to warrant immediate retaliation but high enough to maintain a 24/7 priority.
As for the White Fang... They are a bunch 'Freedom Fighters' inspired by Matchlight. Their threat level as a collective entity sits at Star of The City now."
"...Was the world always this fucked up from the start?"
She blinked, "No? But you seem to be very compose after hearing all that."
Unsurprisingly, Johnathan began laughing, "Compose? Compose?! I am anything but compose. I am trying not to think too deeply so that my sanity doesn't break. Like, why the fuck those people want to fight an entire kingdom? What the fuck is an E.G.O.? The Grimm actually made sense now. And I still have a growing list right now. But my depleting sanity would be detrimental for the mission right? Right? Right? So please, continue the explanation."
Johnathan proceeded to take deep breaths after breaths before finally retaining a semblance of calmness after thirteen cycles. That earned her respect, it was not everyday she found someone that handled a world shattering revelation this good.
"Good. I will resume then. Three days ago we received intel of White Fang activity in Old Glenn together with Matchlight. Our mission is to uncover their plan regarding the stockpiled Dust and if possible kill Mister Matchlight. That is all."
As she the briefing came to a close, Ermessia silently gauged the faces of her team. Johnathan was breathing almost normally despite the revelation a minute ago. Ruby was calm, yet she could saw fury in that calmness of her eyes. Big Steel face was unchanging, but the rumbling of his machinery couldn't be mistaken with something else other than excitement.
Her team was ready to go, just need to confirm one more thing, "Johnathan, I heard you hunted a Mantorer back in the frontier. How did you kill it?"
He was snapped form whatever thought he had at that moment and began formulating an answer to her question, "Attrition and wits, mostly. I admit that I don't have the best of combat ability, but I make it up with my raw strength and tactical acumen. Back then I tank most of the Mantorer's attack and only counter if I'm 100% positive of striking a lethal blow. And after all of that, when the Mantorer was sufficiently damaged and angry, I lured it into a trap, and then bam, one Mantorer down."
"Hmm... I see," she paused for a second, "Ruby, come here." And the little one complied, still with that fury in her eyes, "Shoot him with Evelyn."
All of that fury melted in a single moment, replaced by worry that was rarely ever present in Ruby's eyes, "But Senior... It's Evelyn."
"Yes. Johnathan, enhance your left arm. Show me how strong you are."
With a confident smirk, Johnathan complied with her request and soon his left arm was engulf in the white light of his Aura.
"Shoot."
Evelyn appeared from a burst of black flame, and as soon as she appeared, a deafening thunder echoed within the room. From the smoking barrel of Evelyn and the changing position of Johnathan, Evelyn had been fired and stroke true into her target.
"Ho, color me impress."
Johnathan Amsel, with his arm still coated in white, moved his body in a very relax manner, just like someone who was cooling down after a session of exercise.
"Evelyn is lethal to even a high end Nightmare. The fact that he could tank the hit with superficial damage is marvelous. Even if he's not the best with the sword, he has figure out his place in the team."
And so, as a token of appreciation, Ermessia clapped her hands with respect and declared, "Bravo Johnathan. It seems that we have figure out your role for the team."
For the first time since entering Vale City, Johnathan received a genuine praise regarding his skill and he couldn't help but smile with pride, "Thank you, Senior Ermessia! I will not disappoint."
And that's the chapter, Eyes of Tigers Part 1.
Again I must thank everyone that keep reading this story until this point because it makes me happy. So thank you for that, and have a good day.
P.S. Blunt God Yesod is busted.