Okay, Alright. We getting closer to the end of Volume 1 and that feels good to be honest. Y'all just sit tight as the team and I are planning on introducing a grand total of not one, not two... but FOUR new characters to the mix. These four are going to revolutionize Remnant as a whole and their actions will greatly affect how things play out. As for who they are and when they'll get here, I have no idea, heh heh... Your guess is as good as mine. But because I'm a kind hearted person, I'll leave y'all without any tip or hint, wouldn't wanna spoil it, would we? So these things aside, I leave you with Chapter 9, . Now grab some popcorn (If you don't have any, I got you covered) and enjoy the show.
"The Only Easy Day... was Yesterday" - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Forever Fall Forest, Morning
The bullhead that carried the students into the Forever Fall forest had just reached its destination while below it, Asura waited for it to land and students to get off so they could begin. While he stood, he immediately sensed the presence of Akuma's energy farther in the forest but as long as Glynda and her students didn't wander too far off or as long as Akuma didn't get too close to them, they shouldn't encounter each other. After a moment, the bullhead finally landed and the students got off, holding baskets of jars.
Glynda stood in front of the students to brief them on the assignment before they went off. "Students. You are meant to go into this part of the forest and collect jars of this sap" Glynda brought out a jar that was already filled with sap " from the trees. Be careful and do not go alone as you might be attacked by grimm in the forest, hence, you are allowed to go with your weapons and it is advised that you go with your teammates as it is safer." She concluded before allowing the teams to leave and perform their task. Immediately she dismissed them, Cardin and his team dragged Jaune with them and went into another part of the forest which made Pyrrha worried. She headed towards another direction with Nora and Ren to collect their jars of sap while the whole of team RWBY went together.
With Akuma... A Few Minutes ago...
Akuma had arrived the forest not too long ago. He had stumbled upon it while wandering around Vale two days before he returned back Emerald Forest. It might not have been his ideal location for his training but it would have to do just fine since his former training grounds had been compromised. Once he found a large clearing, he sat right at the center of the clearing to meditate but once he closed his eyes, instead of the pure red he usually saw, he was not alone. He was being confronted by Oni. "So, have you chosen to finally accept?" Oni asked, sitting right in front of Akuma in his mindscape.
Oni was here to confront Akuma about his soul and part of his humanity that was regenerating after he temporarily gave all of it in to the Satsui No Hado during his fight with Asura. "I have no need for your control." Despite the offer of power from Oni, Akuma declined again. Normally, there were only two ways for him to obtain and transcend the power of Oni, either he accepted Oni and completely trade his soul for power, or he killed the spirit of Oni in him and took the power for himself without losing too much his soul. "You know very well that you are not worthy of defeating me." Oni rose from the non-existent ground. Akuma followed suite and rose as well. "You are wrong! Your power.. IS MINE! And I will claim it once I destroy you. Now leave me be, spirit!" Akuma barked one last time, clenching his fists before opening his eyes and standing up.
Even in the real world, Oni had materialised, at least in the form of a phantom. "You are nothing without me... Akuma" Oni said one last time before disappearing and fading, the ki energy returning back into Akuma. He knew what he would have to do, he would have to meditate and regain himself after his talk with Oni, then begin his physical training and prepare. It may not be now, or in a day, or a week or maybe even a month, but this was a sign that Oni was coming, and if he was to win, he would have to be prepared physically, mentally and spiritually. He looked into the sky for a minute then reassumed his meditation position to cleanse himself from the influence of Oni.
Back to Asura, Glynda and the students
The teams had begun doing their tasks. Nora, Pyrrha an Ren were not having too much success. Ren would fill the jars and give them to Nora to store them, meanwhile Nora would continuously re-open the jars and eat the sweet sap that they contained. Once Ren was done, he turned back only to find one full jar of sap left as well as Nora's hand and mouth area covered in the stuff. "You're not supposed to eat it, Nora." He said, holding another empty jar in his hand. "Sowwy" Nora apologised, her mouth still full of the sap. Ren just sighed and continued filling the jars with sap.
Pyrrha was still worried about what Cardin and his team were up to with Jaune. The blonde had continuously said that he was not being bullied and it was all just fun but that didn't really put her at peace. After her failed attempt to approach Jaune and figuring out his secret, she didn't really want to talk to him for now so she just left him be. As for Asura, well.. he's had better days. He was crouched at the top of one of the trees, overlooking the entire exercise and making sure that nobody wandered too far off. He just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with so that he could go on with his day.
While the teams were at work collecting the sap (and one specific person mischievously eating it), Cardin and his teammates were relaxing at another spot. They did so until a visibly fatigued Jaune came back, holding the jars of sap in his hands and keeping them in front of Cardin. He had been forced into doing the assignment for team CRDL and himself. "Good work, Jaune." Cardin mockingly commended Jaune for doing his work for him. "You really did good there" He added.
Cardin, his teammates and Jaune walked over to a slightly elevated position where they could see the other teams doing their tasks before turning to Jaune and saying, "I know you're wondering why your best buddy, Cardin, asked you to collect seven jars of sap instead of five." He smiled and turned to Russel, Dove and Sky. "Last night, Jaune here" Cardin pat (or slapped) Jaune's back "helped us to round up a box of these Rapier wasps and if the assignment he did two days ago is correct, then they are attracted to this sap" Cardin said, picking up a jar of sap and handing it over to Jaune. "Here.." At first, Jaune was confused on what he was to do with the jar that Cardin had just given to him.
Cardin pointed down at Pyrrha and told those with him "She thought she could get away with what she did. Jaune, throw the sap at her." He commanded. Jaune instantly realised what they wanted him to do, if he threw the jar, Cardin would release the wasps and they would go after Pyrrha, who would be covered in the sap. He raised the jar above his head, getting ready to throw it but at the end, he could not do it. "No" He replied in a low voice. Cardin turned back to face Jaune. "What did you say?" He asked. "No.." Jaune replied again. Cardin gave one last query.. "Remember Jaune, one talk with Professor Goodwitch and you'll be on the next bullhead out of Beacon... So tell me, are you doing it, or not?" He used Jaune's fake transcripts to blackmail him into doing his bidding but it still didn't work. "I... said...No!" He said in a somewhat louder voice than before, pushing Cardin to the floor after he said 'no'. "I've had enough of your bullying and I'm done with it" Jaune spoke to Cardin, confidence and anger fueling his voice.
Jaune's anger build up had made him to awaken something deep inside him, like a fire that was kept suppressed had just been released. It was a small change to his look but just one strand of his blond hair turned black when he pushed Cardin. A minor burst of energy erupted from Jaune. The burst was too small to be physically felt but to Akuma and Asura, it was quite noticeable. It was in no way Mantra nor Aura... it had to be Ki and since it was his anger that awakened it, it was no doubt the energy of the Satsui No Hado; the same energy that powered Akuma. As soon as Akuma and Asura felt it, they both rushed to the area, with Asura being slightly faster than Akuma. "Oh ho, Jaune, you've finally done it. Grab him!" Cardin commanded his teammates but before they could execute, Asura had arrived seemingly from the air.. "That's enough!" Asura said as he landed right between Cardin and Jaune.
Before Asura could even say more, a pack of grimm emerged from the surrounding vegetation. Six of the bear-like ones stood before Asura, Jaune and team CRDL, but something was clearly off about these ones; they seemed to be larger as well as possessed more spikes and bone armor than the normal ones. They were likely older, stronger and more deadlier than the normal ones. They were attracted to their negative feelings, Jaune's anger and something that smelled extraordinarily sweet. Asura, having to protect them stepped up to face the Ursai. As if the grimm problem was not enough, he could also feel Akuma getting closer to their location at a rapid pace.
The grimm rushed first, all at once towards Asura. Asura re-summoned his four other arms, not that they were needed to defeat all the grimm but he needed to hold them off Jaune and team CRDL. He summoned red mantra orbs in all six of his palms, rapidly blasting them at the grimm. Despite his efforts to contain all of them, two jumped past him and headed for Jaune and Cardin, leaving him to deal with four of them. Russel, Skye and Dove ran away to ask for help, leaving Cardin and Jaune with the two grimm. In order to prevent them from going further, Asura leapt towards the grimm, letting out a burst of his Wrath Mantra to throw them further in instead of back towards the two huntsmen-in-training. With a grunt, Asura leapt further into the forest to face his foes and their fight began. As for Jaune and Cardin, they stood face to face with two Ursai when from behind them, a large fireball hit one of the two Ursai right on its head burning a hole right through its head that progressed into its body. Not too far behind them, Akuma stood, his hand still shot out from the heavy Shakunetsu Gohadoken he just hit the bear creature with. Even though he had no form of sympathy or care for the boy, once he sensed the ki that he emitted, he could not let such great potential go to waste. Figuring that he'd better get some 'exercise' himself, he jumped over the two, moving towards Asura to join him in disposing of the other four.
Meanwhile with RWBY, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren, they had just finished collecting their jars of sap when a couple of explosions coming from nearby as well as the other three members of Cardin's team running away from the source drew their attention. While running for his life, Russel had accidentally bumped into Yang, accidentally knocking him down. Curious for information, Yang picked him up.. "What happened?" She asked. "We were attacked by large ursai, six of them. Six arms is fighting four of them but Cardin's there with one" He quickly said before running in the opposite direction with his teammates.
"Nora, Ren, get Professor Goodwitch and inform her of what's going on!" Ruby took charge and her friends followed suite. Pyrrha's face turned into one of extreme concern when she remembered that Jaune was with them. Quickly dropping her jar of sap and arming herself with her weapons like the others with her, she rushed towards the source of the roars and explosions.
Once they reached there, Asura had already destroyed two of the Ursai and held the paw of the third one in his hands while Akuma blocked an attack from the fourth one. Jaune, on the other wasn't doing so well. He was barely managing to hold the larger ursa off when it suddenly took a swipe at Cardin's head. Jaune instinctively moved his shield to block the paw of the larger ursai, which made it to take the attack head on. Once he blocked, as if he was on an energy drink or a drug of some kind, he moved towards the grimm with such speed and ferocity that nobody had ever seen him exhibit before. He moved in to strike it's back with his sword but his attack didn't come without cost. The bear had already positioned its left paw to hit the right part of his abdomen. Both attacks connected, sending the both of them recoiling for a moment before moving in for more. Weiss, her rapier in hand was about to move him to help Jaune out of his unfortunate position but was halted by Pyrrha, who saw this as an opportunity to not only improve on the blonde's self confidence, but also rid him of Cardin's influence.
As they fought, Jaune and the Ursa had been exchanging blows for a while but even though the blonde had managed to block a few of the grimm's attacks, the Ursa's attacks had more force behind them and were more damaging. While the two kept up their fighting, Asura had been punching the bear grimm he was fighting repeatedly on its torso with his six fists and after a few repetitions, he pulled his fist back and delivered the final punch tight through its chest, killing it. At the same time, "Gohadouken!" Akuma cried out as he released the purple ki surge at the grimm. The wave hit the grimm but only break through it's bone armor and not kill it. The grimm stood on it's two hind legs, furious, it went for a couple of swipes in an attempt to hit Akuma, who was already in his Rakan stance. One perfectly timed parry and the Ursa was stunned, leaving it open for a little time. Akuma, capitalising on the time he had, delivered a heavy Goshoryuken to its jaw, completely shattering the already damaged bone armor and disconnecting the head entirely from the rest of the body.
After they were done, they turned away from the still disintegrating bodies of the two Ursai and towards where Jaune was fighting the last one. Asura had already walked in to aid the kid but just like Weiss, he was stopped by Akuma "The pathetic boy must learn to fight his own battles." If great minds truly think alike, then Akuma and Pyrrha were living proof of the saying. Asura, remembering the conversation he overheard, also followed along and waited instead of helping Jaune. Of course if things got out of hand, he would intervene but Akuma had no such intentions. To him, Jaune defeating this bear would prove that he was ready to really learn how to harness and control the Satsui No Hadou within him.
It hd been a few minutes since Jaune and the Ursa were engaged in battle. Both participants had managed to land a few solid hits but were still at some form of stalemate. The blonde took a glance at his aura bar and realised that it was in the red, very close to being emptied. He had to finish this now or he would lose. He raised his sword above his head and began his attack. He charged at the bear. He leapt into the air, angling the sharp part of the sword towards the least armored part of the bear, its neck. What he failed to notice was that the bear had taken a swipe at Jaune, which since he failed to notice and block, would act as his killing swipe. It was a trade of lives, Jaune's life for the grimm's.
'He's as good as dead' Akuma thought as he watched the battle. Asura was about to move in but stopped again when he noticed a faint red glow that suddenly turned black around Jaune's shield that moved it to shield him from the bear's attack. The same ominous faint black also covered his sword as he prepared to deliver the killing blow to the grimm. Pyrrha, who didn't want Jaune dead, had tried to use her semblance to aid Jaune but was surprised when her semblance was overcome by another force that moved Jaune's shield for him. Now shielded, Jaune safely brought his sword down on to the neck of the Ursa, finally eliminating the threat.
'What was that? Why did my semblance stop mid way?' Pyrrha thought. Never before had her semblance emitted a black glow or moved without her command so either someone else helped Jaune, or he did it himself. She was broken out of her thoughts when Blake, who stood next to her asked, "Hey, what was that red and black glow on Jaune's shield at the end?" She voiced her observation out. "You have your clones, Weiss has her glyphs and I have Polarity" She simply replied. An awestruck Ruby asked "So, you can control poles?". Weiss quickly corrected Ruby, also answering her question by saying "It means she can control metal." which lead to a long "Ohhh..." from Ruby.
"So do we tell him what happened" Yang asked the rest. Pyrrha, albeit skeptical of the alien black glow, had succeeded in her mission of boosting Jaune's confidence. "Let's just say it's our little secret." She responded. While Pyrrha and the rest went to congratulate Jaune, Asura nonchalantly walked past them. Nobody died, the grimm were now dust and Akuma did not harm anything apart from the grimm, plus Jaune now felt better and more confident about himself, so his mission here was complete with a plus... but that didn't mean the day was over.
It was here that Ren and Nora arrived with Glynda, only to find out that the threat had been vanquished. Akuma, now standing not too far beside them pointed at Ren and Jaune, gesturing for them to go to him. The two of them wondered what Akuma would want with them but hesitantly, they went to him. Akuma gestured over to the rest and spoke, "They may leave but you two.." He crossed his arms and stared directly into the visibly terrified eyes of Jaune and those of Ren, which still hid the fear under a stoic mask "..shall remain here." He said. Ren and Jaune didn't even bother to ask any questions because the look as well as tone of Akuma spoke 'No Questions Asked' already. Akuma went in the opposite direction of where the others stood. "Come!" He barked an order at Jaune and Ren.
"Now, we follow him." Ren translated to his blond leader. Together, they followed him into the forest. Meanwhile, the students were just getting ready to return to Beacon when Nora and Pyrrha respectively asked in unison, "Where's Ren?" "Where's Jaune?". The others looked around the vehicle but found no traces of the two of them. "They're okay." Asura said from where he stood in the bullhead. "And how are you sure of that?" An annoyed and worried Glynda asked. "They're with him.." Asura responded. Immediately he said 'him', team RWBY, Nora and Pyrrha knew who he was referring to.
"And who's him?" Glynda asked. Asura raised his head to face Glynda before answering "Akuma". Glynda was worried sick for her students. Normally, she would have beat or even killed Asura for letting it happen but of course, she couldn't do so even if she tried. "I'll talk to him." Asura finally said before jumping out of the bullhead and heading in the direction of Akuma's and Jaune's newly established energies.
Back with the two huntsmen in training and the Master of The Fist, they had arrived at a smaller clearance in the forest where Akuma himself would train Jaune and if he agreed to learn from his partner or pick up from Akuma, Ren as well. "Sit" He said as soon as they reached the center of the clearing. Jaune, partially exhausted from his fight, collapsed into a sitting position while Ren assumed a more traditional sitting position, quite similar to a meditation position. "What drives you, boy?" Akuma asked, looking down on the two. Ren quickly translated Akuma's words to Jaune. The blonde Arc thought of this for a while before answering "I want to be a hero.. I just want to be able to protect them and help them fight the grimm." Ren turned to face Akuma, "He wants to be a hero and protect those he holds dear to him" He translated back to the half-demon warrior.
It was not what he ideally expected to be an answer to this question, but it would serve as a great motivator. "Are you willing to gain power however it takes to protect them?" Akuma asked yet again with Ren translating his question to Jaune. For Jaune, this was a no-brainer. He simply replied with a gentle affirmative nod. "Then rise. From now on, you both shall refer to me as Sensei as you are now under my tutelage." He declared as Jaune and Ren rose up to their feet, now students of Akuma. "We shall waste no time. Look around us, what do you see?" Akuma asked his students. "Trees" Ren quickly replied. The only visible things around them were very thick trees. There might have been grimm far off but they were not visible from where they stood.
Akuma punched a nearby tree, snapping the poor plant in two as well as dropping its shoot. "You must strike down those trees by the end of the week" Akuma said, gesturing over to a couple of trees around them before walking away. He turned to face Ren before saying "You shall not aid him in any way." and disappearing into the forest as he walked further into it. As Akuma had little to no knowledge of a semblance or how their Auras worked, he had no idea on how to train Ren. The exercise he just assigned Jaune had two purposes, one was to improve his strength and another was to test his will. Even the strongest warrior with a weak will would be defeated eventually but a weak one with a strong will would develop to be the best of the best.
As he had disappeared, Jaune turned to his partner "What did he say?" He asked. "He wishes to teach you and so we must call him Sensei. For your first task, you must destroy every tree around us and expand the clearing on your own before the week ends." Ren responded calmly. This quickly made Jaune perk up. At first, it was Pyrrha that said she believed in him and wanted to help him, and now, Akuma- who could easily destroy trees and rip grimm apart like paper. If the two of them actually thought he could improve and believed in him, then why shouldn't he believe in himself as well. Quickly, he grabbed his sword with both hands and began chopping at the first tree he saw. From a distance, Akuma and Asura watched (not together of course). One watching with a sense of high expectations from his new student and the other watching to make sure that nothing happened to the both of them, basically Akuma provided the training and Asura was the lifeguard.
Hours Later...
Jaune had managed to damage a few of the trees, bringing them down. Ren, who had been watching, looked up and realised that it was getting late. Jaune had made good progress for the day and after fighting an Ursa and chopping down trees, he was exhausted. "That's enough for today. He said a week, not a day." Ren remarked, suggesting that they leave. Jaune, determined to finish his task, ignored Ren for a few minutes and continued his task. Considering that it was Jaune, Akuma, Asura and Ren originally expected him to give up and go back long ago but the young boy was determined... and his determination did pay off even of it was for a little while.
Jaune was about to end the day's training by splitting one last tree. The tree was one of the harder and older ones so he had a lot of difficulty with it. He hadn't even reached the center of the tree when the tree refused to be cut any further. After a while of repetitively trying to strike it down and failing to do so, a frustrated and fatigued Jaune dropped his sword, bending over to catch his breath. 'I thought he would never stop' Asura thought, now considering heading there to take them back to Beacon. As Asura was about to jump down, Jaune, in one great last effort, swiftly picked his sword back up. It was for a moment but his brown eyes turned black and his sword began to glow its eerie black glow before he swung at the tree one last time. The tree which had refused to break, despite the numerous attacks Jaune hit it with, was cut in from end to end in one desperate finishing attack from Jaune. The sheer force behind this attack was so much that it materialised as dark energy and proceeded to completely make clean cuts across the stems of the three other trees next to the one he struck. "Woah!" Both Jaune and Ren said in unison, surprised by the magnitude of the attack and the sudden energy surge from Jaune's sword. Immediately Jaune completed his task for the day, he passed out, right on the spot. Ren rushed to help him regain his consciousness but to no avail.
Asura finally walked in front of Ren and hoisted Jaune on to his shoulders. "He just did some kind of..." Ren was about to tell him what happened prior to Jaune passing out but was cut off by the demigod, "I am aware of what happened" He said. He began to walk back to Beacon with Jaune on his shoulders and Ren following behind him. From where he stood, Akuma could see that the boy had potential and was strong-willed. What remained was to see if he was ready to confront himself but all in due time. For now, what he needed the most... was rest.
They walked for just over an hour but they finally arrived Beacon late in the evening. After walking through the halls and past other dorms, they finally made it to the door of team JNPR's room. Asura leaned against the wall and gestured for Ren to open the door before he would go in. Ren did just as instructed, using his scroll to open the door. "Ren!" Nora gleefully yelled before going to hug her partner. Once she finally let go, Ren turned to a worried Pyrrha and announced "We have a guest.". As soon as he said this, Asura walked in, holding and unconscious Jaune. He went towards one of the empty beds and placed the blonde on it. Pyrrha immediately rushed to his side to check on him. Physically, he had a few scratches and bruises from when he fought thee Ursa but apart from that, he was alright. Another thing that worried her was the fact that there were burn marks on his hand.
"What happened to him?" A worried Pyrrha asked Asura. "I found him cutting trees. His partner should tell you the rest." Asura responded, gesturing over to Ren before turning around to walk away. He knew of Jaune's situation and he had told himself that he would not interfere, but he never said he wouldn't let his rival do so. Pyrrha, who just had her leader brought in by a stranger turned to Asura. "Asura." She called out, causing the name's owner to stop, "..Thank you." She said, bowing her head to show her appreciation for Asura. Asura, who only heard what Akuma said and did for Jaune replied "Do not thank me. When the time comes, you will know who to thank." He finally said before walking out of the room and back towards the roof of the dorms instead.
"What does he mean, Ren?" Pyrrha asked, turning to her silent partner. "We weren't with Asura... We were with Akuma" Ren replied in a low voice. "Akuma? Is that why Jaune is unconscious? Did he fight you two?" Pyrrha rapidly asked. She was worried that now that Jaune was done with Cardin, Akuma presented himself as another obstacle. "You were with the lion man? What happened?" Nora perked up and asked on the mention of Akuma's name. "Not quite what you may think. He offered to train Jaune, and Jaune being... Jaune, accepted his offer." Ren proceeded to narrate what happened at the Forever Fall Forest to Pyrrha and Nora. Pyrrha looked at Jaune in disbelief, "He really did that?" She asked. Ren responded with a small nod. Pyrrha was happy that Jaune had finally begun trying to overcome his obstacles, even if he had to learn under one of, if not the most feral warrior in Remnant. She had a smile glued to her face. 'That's my Jaune..' She thought before going to lay on her bed, getting ready to end the day.
As Asura walked down the hall, he came across one of the most rarest things one could ever find, an appreciative and relieved Glynda. She was overly protective of her students, even Jaune, despite knowing that he had utilised fake transcripts to get into Beacon. "Thank you for returning them" She calmly said. Asura responded with his signature wave-off, "No problem." He replied before walking away from her to the dorms' roof.
And there you have it! V1.C9 Complete. Now you're probably wondering.. *Ding dong* I better get that.
"Popcorn delivery for a Doc." Really? You couldn't be here earlier? How are you this late, man? "Don't blame me. This really cool fic episode was on and I had to watch it before I got here." Dude.. "Bruh..." Just drop the stuff over there. "Okay.. Wait, you watching it too?"
Yeah! I was gonna see it with my dope readers and we was gonna have popcorn until the oh-so-fast delivery guy delayed it over the exact same thing! "Sorry bruh. Mind if I watch the rest with you?" Yeah, just take a seat over there.. NOT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA!
"I'm on the fic..Yayy!" *Clears throat* "Hello dear readers. If you really enjoyed this one, don't forget to fav and follow. If you didn't like it, leave a review and tell me what made it trash to ya and they'll make it better. Until the next episode, this is Aki..'s popcorn delivery guy, going dark. The dude's sleeping? Oh yeah, it's 4AM and he just finished the two chapters. I'll tell him y'all said hi when he wakes up"