A Requiem for a Gamer

by jjpdn

"Brother, why would you want to break the cycle of life and death just to reincarnate this boy?" "The damned infidel forgot to put onions in my burger." "...isn't that… hypocritical?" "Fine, I'll do the second best thing."

25. Chapter 11 Part 7

A/N (20240107): I've made some edits! Here's the second last chapter of the arc!

Hope you guys enjoy it!

Great Advisor: Pathalen! Many thanks to him!

/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/

Eve and the masked men finally exited the maze very much agitated by all the twists and turns. Some of them were covered in leaves and twigs, and clearly ruffled.

In front of them, however, was just Jaune.

They spent a bit looking around at the shack, the river, and the small forest to his left, their right. Weiss and Blaine were nowhere to be found.

"Give her to us." Eve told him with a glare. "You must, or the Dragonlords will take her. Blaine understands that."

Oh, it's the shit-talking phase? "Clearly he does, that's why he's making it so hard for you. And why you had to almost kill him."

She flinched. Jaune thought that was interesting. "...The Light-wielder is said to be able to heal any wounds. That woman will keep him alive." She replied.

"You do know she's just a student."

Eve paused, but recomposed herself. "...He will be fine. However, all of us will be in danger if the Dragonlords take her, and believe me, they are coming with a full armada. And you won't be able to stop him, (PH) Friend A, when you could barely stop just five of us even with an experienced mage like Blaine at your side." Several more masked mages stepped out from the maze, reinforcing her.

"Well, that's just because I haven't taken you seriously."

I'm fucking friend A?! I sincerely hope it's 'A' for Arc.

[Admin]: It's not.

"Show us where you hid them and we'll make it quick for you," said one of the men, interrupting their conversation.

Jaune had the biggest eye roll in his life. "Hopefully in your next life you'll have better lines. You should be embarrassed." Jaune raised his Stick of Truth.

The enemy mage was faster on the draw, hitting Jaune with a lightning bolt. It scorched the ground, but Jaune himself was unharmed.

"You hadn't learned yet?" Jaune chuckled quietly to himself. "You can't hurt me."

[Admin]: That line should be just as embarrassing, Mortal.

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. Hey, when in Rome… His hand stopped. A thoughtful look came over his face.

"You - " Jaune cleared his throat. "You are a fool. After all that happened before, you think a few sparks can hurt me?" He declared as loudly as he could, sweeping his arm across his chest with flourish.

[Admin]: I have a bad feeling about this.

The masked men did not care for his words. "Split up and search, I'll keep him busy," commanded Eve.

Jaune whispered 'Sprint' and was thrust forward, cutting the distance between him and the rest in half. He landed with a surprisingly dramatic thump.

They stopped in their tracks, suddenly wary once more.

Thank you for the lesson, randomly teleporting blond man. "Feel free to come closer. Whoever comes first…" He grinned, trying his best to sound maniacal. "I'll also pop your head open first just like I did before." As he threatened them, he made sure to raise his bloody hand, hold open his palm, and firmly tighten up his fist as if he was crushing something in his grip.

Crack.

He had snapped the Stick of Truth in half with one hand. The masked men watched the crushed pieces of the stick tumble to the ground.

I meant to do that. He sweated.

[Admin]: You do know that's humanity's most prized relic?

What?!

Jaune quickly pushed it out of his mind. He had more important things to do. He needed to do this and succeed.

Eve looked at him with a gaze full of contempt. "If you could do so, you would have done it already. Do not cower! Go, men."

He took a breath, letting his distracting thoughts dissipate. I will do this and prove myself right. Keep his image in mind.

Suddenly, Jaune burst into hysterical laughter. He let it spread to his full body, shaking, while aiming to proclaim his amusement as loudly as his lungs could bear. The masked men looked uneasily at his quaking figure.

When he finally stopped, he smirked to himself. "Child, you know nothing of the power I possess." A familiar arrogance eased into his voice. "No weapon or magic from a mere man can harm me." He gave his voice a deep, threatening growl. "For I am far beyond your understanding. If I was serious, I would have already destroyed your soul the moment you wronged me."

"You claim yourself a god?" Eve said incredulously.

There were murmurs between them.

Jaune smirked at them with wild, crazy eyes. He could imagine the insanity that would go through the mad god he was playing. In fact, you could say he had a first person experience on what it would look like. All he needed to do was to exaggerate it and enforce the illusion, pushing back the warmth on his neck that he recognized as embarrassment.

He knelt down, gathering up the remains of the Stick of Truth.

"Look at you Mortals, clasped in your fleshy shells - as if they won't one day decay and fail you." He stood up, inspecting the number of wooden shards and assorted larger pieces. I don't see how this is humanity's most prized relic. He tossed it at the masked men.

They ducked out of the way.

"One day, the crude meatsack you call a temple will wither, and you will beg for my kind to save you."

[Admin]: The Mechanicus and I will be seeing you in court.

"You talk too much." Eve pointed at him with her sword. "There is nothing to worry about! Go ahead, search!" Her men, however, did not budge. "You really believe this woman's mad spiel?!"

There was the sound of someone gurgling.

Eve's eyes followed the gaze of her men, who were all looking at one of their own. He was holding his throat, and despite the mask, Jaune could feel the distress in his body language as he floundered. Red seeped from his gloves.

Jaune watched as the man fell to his knees, then onto the grass. He didn't get up.

…How did he die? Wait, did the wood shards from the Stick of Truth kill him?! Jaune tried to calculate the chances of that, but he wasn't very good at math. I guess the chances weren't zero. He would have guffawed if it wasn't so serious.

[Admin]: That's your second kill.

Shut up. I don't want to do this. However, this is the only way we're getting out of this unharmed. I need to do this for Blaine, for Weiss. Jaune narrowed his eyes, letting the dark mirth that filled him dissipate into calm resolution. I will finish this performance.

"Oh for fuck's sakes." Eve planted a hand onto her forehead. "It must be a sort of illusory magic. Bombard the field with spells! The mage must be hiding out there, invisible!"

The masked men did as she asked. Spells of all elemental types rained down upon the area around Jaune, but he stood unfazed.

"I tire of this." He gravely sighed. "If you won't come to me… I will come to you."

And he walked forward.

Fireballs exploded near him, showering him with mud and flames, but he walked through with a slight wince. Ice spikes blasted the grassland with icy swords but he took some head on and kept walking. Earth rose to stop him but he thrust his hand into the rock and tore it apart.

He had a goal. He had a mission, one that he would see to its end.

What was even wrong with English Literature, Weiss? It is the exploration of human experience itself. It delves into the emotions and perspectives of people we could never be, and gives us just that little more understanding into the complexities of the human condition.

It is also a reflection - on your own values, and those of others. Potential answers to 'who am I, and what is my place in the world?' are written down in every sentence we construct, weaved between our carefully chosen words.

He raised his hand to his face, letting himself see the wrinkles and grime that covered it.

Writing is an avatar of our very being and by staring down onto the manifestation of our beliefs onto reality… His hand balled up into fist, and his Aura shone.

Do we see our souls.

Made, immortal.

His Aura glowered bright, shimmering with determination.

You want to dance? Let's dance.

He kept the image of the mad god clear in his mind, and watched distantly as his soul wreathed itself around him and shielded him from the blows. A torrent of magic spells slammed into his white light and was diverted, like a parting of the sea. He could feel the continuous vibration and erratic thumps of the collisions, which raised in intensity as he walked ever closer to his enemies. But a god wouldn't be stopped by mortal means, so he pushed onwards and his Aura did as he commanded.

Why didn't I spend any more of my skill points with Ruby?! He cursed himself. Something that reduced knockback would have been very helpful right now.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as a stone pillar smashed into his face. Yet, unlike even the boulders and large-scale explosions, this one actually snapped his head to the side.

Shit, I got distracted!

He smashed the pillar aside - taking a few tries to do so - and calmed himself down, trying to regrasp that feeling of cool determination.

However, now that he's walked up to two thirds of the way, the masked men were getting desperate. Waves and waves of spells smashed into him in a frequency that made his teeth chatter. At this point, the intensity has raised to such a point that it had raised far beyond the mere supernatural musculature of the Ursas from before, enough that he was starting to worry even if his insane amount of Defense and Aura Points would be enough to hold out. The fact that the enemy couldn't tell how low his defenses were was a boon, but the lack of information even for himself was not.

[System]: Through special action, you have unlocked a special ability: Basic Fortitude [LV: 1].

Oh, what? Fuck yeah! His conditioned reflex after many years of gaming made him perk up. He tried his best to read the text that had popped up, in between focusing between keeping his Aura up. He did notice a substantial reduction in the knockback he was feeling.

[System]: Through special action, you have unlocked a special ability: Gaia's Might [LV: 1].

Wait, that sounds really cool!

[System]: Through special action, you have unlocked a special ability: Spicy Pretzel [LV: 1].

Oi, fuck off!

Still, that's insane! These 'special action' unlocked skills allow me to acquire new skills without spending PP! There is a chance they're complete trash, but with how powerful 'Sprint' is despite it's innocuous name and ability, I can't just write them off yet.

There were a few more messages - other than successful Dexterity Saves and warnings about him being damaged, but his attention was split by Eve.

"Oh that's it!" Eve did not look happy. From between the fire, explosions, and other elemental effects, Jaune saw her stop shooting sword slashes at him and sheathed her sword. She hopped back, and raised her scabbard. "Charge me up!" She ordered.

The offensive against Jaune lessened, and incredulously, he watched as her teammates attacked her. To his further surprise, their spells were absorbed by the scabbard in a swirl of crimson light.

Wait, if they would rather send them against her than me…

The woman lowered her scabbard down to her side and took a deep breath, hand on the hilt. She bent down, clearly ready to unsheathe.

…Then the strength of the slash coming out must be several times stronger in magnitude!

She slashed at him.

Around Jaune, everything turned red and black. He couldn't really describe it, but if he had to, it was similar to a minimalist painting. Everything lost shades and was instead represented in only the two colors. It created a beautiful contrast, reminding himself a little of Ruby's theme.

Still reeling from the distraction of the numerous new skills, he knew something extremely powerful was coming and threw all his focus into his Aura. His jaw clenched as hard as he could and he crossed his arms in front of himself, making sure every muscle in his body was ready.

[Admin]: There is a distinction between your determination and drive, versus just flexing your muscles and gritting your teeth as hard as possible.

…You darn god.

Jaune realized.

If he focused too hard on focusing itself rather than his conviction, then sometimes he might lose the effects of his Aura entirely.

But it was too late.

The attack pierced through him with no resistance.

As he fell backwards, he watched the red skies above, painted by Eve's attack. The filter caused the boundary between the sky and horizon to bleed into petals, much like Ruby's semblance. The petals fluttered skyward, in a dance and swirl, towards a shattered moon that looked far closer than it was.

How beautiful. He thought. I wish we had a moon like that.

What remained of him landed softly on the grass. Perhaps it was a harder landing, but everything was distant to his senses.

The world returned to normal.

Yet the sense of melancholy and peace did not leave him. A dull ache of pain pounded from far away.

He stared at the night sky. The moon had left him now, leaving to move back to its rightful place in the stars. Far away from him. With a shaking hand, he tried reaching towards it. But it was to no avail.

I couldn't do it.

The weight of failure was lighter than he thought.

I couldn't prove it to you, Weiss.

"A god, huh?" He saw Eve step up to him at the corner of his vision. "Just another lie to make up for everything you lack." She said. Any other time, he would have retorted. But now, he just didn't feel like it.

She raised her sword above him. "May you find peace, and fulfillment… in Eden."

"Eve!" One of the masked men called.

Jaune watched the woman raise her head to face something in the distance, out of his vision. The woman's eyes widened in shock. She leapt backwards, but was far too late as something huge and weighty landed beside Jaune, sending dust all over his body. An incredibly muscular arm wrapped itself around her, and swung. Eve was sent flying straight out of his sight.

Jaune had never seen an arm so thick. It was perhaps three times the radius of a body builder's arm in a very cartoonish way, and as his eyes used the last vestiges of his strength to loop up at who it was, he couldn't help but be a little more curious as he saw what looked like a skirt around tree-trunk sized legs.

Who's this? A new character? Isn't this a bit late for more introductions?

The hulking figure turned to Jaune, and his confusion would have quadrupled if he had the energy to do so.

"W - Weiss…" He coughed. "...Y-you g-grew."

"Jaune, save your breath!" Weiss kneeled by him. Her body - or rather, her muscles - were so ridiculous looking when compared to her tiny head. Her face was twisted with worry. She took a look over him, and a huge muscular hand covered her mouth. "Oh my goodness." The amount of horror within her eyes was a nice backdrop to her flexing rock-hard forearms. She looked away, perhaps being unable to stomach it.

"H- how are you so…"

She glanced at her musculature barely contained by her bulging uniform, on the brink of exploding. "Muscle gain comes from the continuous cycle of micro-tears and repair, constrained by protein reserves and regeneration speed. Small Heals take care of both - "

The words sounded more and more distant.

….Light, am I dying?

[Admin]: It is just a scratch for a god.

Can you at least make the situation a little less ridiculous so that I can have a serious death?

[Admin]: The hands of fate are very mysterious.

I don't want to die with nurse Buffsuki by my bedside. Please, oh good lord.

[Admin]: No mercy.

"Don't think we'll let you heal him, Light-wielder." The other masked men stepped up to the two, something Jaune was dimly aware of. "Stop right there or we'll fire."

She didn't give them a glance, casting a Large Heal and reattaching something to him. Jaune didn't want to know what.

"We're serious!" One of them barked again.

"You should be more worried about yourself now that Eve isn't here anymore." It was Blaine's voice.

Around Weiss and Jaune, a curtain of the night fluttered into existence, sparkling like a cosmic nebula. It gave them protection and privacy.

Jaune and Weiss' eyes met, but they quickly looked away from each other.

"Y-you came back."

"You think I wouldn't?" There was a deep growl to her voice that she didn't have before. He half-expected her to have gained a high-pitched tone due to all the anime he's watched, to contrast better with her new build.

Yes, because of all you said. "I-I'm… kind of a loser." He said. Weiss did some more things to him, and he wasn't sure what it was. He felt light-headed. "A-and you're kind of an asshole."

Weiss' skin around her eyes tightened. "Then we rejects better stay together, shouldn't we? Or else who would?"

He was silent. There goes her high bar again, calling him a reject. Yet he wasn't in a state where he wanted to argue, be it mental or physical. Not when she was strangely self-depreciative about it.

He closed his eyes. He was starting to feel a little sleepy.

"J - Jaune!"

His eyes fluttered open. "Hm?"

She was still looking away.

"W - What is it? I - I'm tired…"

"Don't! Stay awake, I'll heal you up!" She turned around and knelt, but quickly stood up again as her face grimaced. She cupped her mouth, tears forming in her eyes.

"...Ah." Despite hovering in between consciousness and unconsciousness, he still could figure it out. "I - It doesn't look good, does it?"

She shivered. Her hands, despite all the muscle, shook. "I haven't worked with clean cuts like this… What if the Large Heal connects the nerves incorrectly? What if…" She continued on, spouting technical knowledge that went way over his head. It sounded like a mantra to him, or like a lullaby.

Her hands had stopped from their task.

Oh. She's doing that again.

He would have shrugged if he could.

Guess I'll die. I just hope the 'Override' I did doesn't cause any trouble, like giving permadeath…

It wasn't like he could do anything about it.

"I…" He coughed, as she talked. "I - I need you…" He forced out.

Before darkness swallowed him, he saw her turn to him, her eyes wide with pain.

He jolted awake.

"Jaune!"

"H - Huh?" He coughed again. "W - Where…" He still saw Blaine's magic still surrounding them. Weiss, still buff, was still beside him. It was still the same scene.

"I almost lost you." She said.

Looks like you brought me back. "...T - Thank you. I - I didn't think you c - could…" I thought you weren't in a state to help. He couldn't imagine what he looked like, especially to someone as sensitive as her to this type of scenes.

She smiled at him. It was without condescension, without arrogance. "Someone needed me."

He didn't reply.

"...You must be in a lot of pain." She muttered. "Focus on me. Shhh. Large Heal."

"N - Not really. Peachy, really." His eyes turned back to the moon. "Must b - Must be Aura. Trying my best to keep me from dying."

"Or you're going into shock - You're definitely in shock."

She used a number of Small Heals in order to heal a few superficial wounds. They were silent as she worked.

"I couldn't - " He suddenly said, before he coughed. His throat felt dry. "I couldn't - "

"Shhh. Save your strength." She said, but she still knelt down to hear him better.

Something exploded against Blaine's night magic shield, but inside, Weiss and Jaune were safe.

"I couldn't do it." He whispered. Tears welled up in his eyes, but it didn't match with the emptiness he was feeling. "I - I knew it would catch up to me one day." The worst of all, was that he had all the chances to get it right. All the time in the world that he had just thrown away and wasted.

At the end of the day, he was just like Cardin said. He had missed his chance, he was too late. All he was relying on was luck. And now, his luck ran out too.

"I'm just a normal guy. I couldn't beat them." He continued, still in a low voice. "I always knew that within me, no matter what I said."

He thought Blaine's ability was beautiful, much like his artwork. There was a melancholy beauty to it, fitting his mood. He breathed in the cool night air, letting himself sink into the bloody grass.

Weiss cast another Large Heal, reattaching something to his arm. "Define normal."

You just told me to save my breath… As logically illogical as ever.

He still obliged. "N - No training. Average stats. No motivation other than the basics… No traumatic backstory." He listed out. "I - I'm not protag material."

"Interesting." She did something below his waist, and he could start getting some feeling back.

…That's all you're going to say? He looked at her face, noting her focus and concentration. Guess she's just making small-talk. You see it often in movies where they try to keep the patient awake.

Jaune heard a strange sound, like a knife stabbing into a fruit, and his attention momentarily moved to its source. For a second, he swore he saw something long and thin pierce into the black wisps and stars that formed Blaine's night magic, before it was gone.

Her eyes flicked back to him. "Interesting," She restarted. "Because one's perception of normalcy, and their perception of their relationship to it, tells you a lot about the person."

"W-What does it say about me?"

"That you're looking for an easy way out."

He bristled at that. "I'm not."

"We all do that." She put a hand onto his forehead. It was cool, rugged, and very, very muscled. Even the digits themselves. "It is easier to put a label on ourselves and stay within it, than face the fact that as long as we are alive - " She closed her eyes as her breath caught. "...As long as we are alive, there is always change. Even the most average of men would become a whole new person after decades of experience."

"Yet some people try their whole lives and end up with nothing." He refuted.

"As long, of course, they take those simple, little steps every day." She cast another Large Heal and he felt feeling return to his legs. He didn't want to look down, not wanting to know if it had been previously severed.

It's the habits that Ren mentioned. The skin around his eyes tightened. But I haven't even been doing that. I've done nothing to change myself, despite the initial spark that talking with the huntsmen had given me. "That's not me."

"But it could be. And that's what annoys you. That's what you keep trying so hard to run away from, be it topic changes or just ways of keeping yourself busy."

Jaune turned away from her, his expression tight.

A blade wreathed with a familiar red glow stabbed into black magic around them. It pierced all the way through, an inch away from Weiss, but as soon as the red energy dissipated it was expelled.

"Jaune." She said, with a surprising amount of softness from her, ignoring what had just happened. "Haven't you thought that these experiences already define you? You may not be a hero driven by the death of your entire clan with funky eyes, but trauma is different for everyone. The moment you've entered this world, you've already found experiences that are unique to you. These are not anyone else' memories, these failures aren't anyone else's. These are yours."

He felt her reattach something again. Through the numbness, he guessed it was his foot, or lower leg.

"Jaune, the moment you stepped into this strange, new world, you have already become extraordinary."

The weight of her words landed on him not unlike the shock of a defibrillator. Pieces that seemed scattered like leaves on a foggy autumn day fell into place with miraculous precision. What she said wasn't exactly what he needed - but it was close enough.

The rest is up to me.

A thesis was building in his head.

Suddenly, a crimson blade slashed through Blaine's shield. He reacted quickly and grabbed at Weiss to pull her down, but instead, his arms flopped into sight, floundering like landed fish. Weiss cried, falling forward over him. She grasped at her back.

Blaine's barrier around them shuddered. Undulating crackling red waves shimmered on its black surface, signaling a destabilization.

"Weiss!"

"I'm - fine. I'm fine." She grimaced, tears in her eyes. "Focus on getting better."

He raised his arms in the air. He couldn't feel his forearms, and no matter what he did, his hands and fingers did not heed to his command. "Weiss - "

"Nerves, I need to connect severed nerves - " Weiss hurriedly explained. "The major arteries are reconnected, but - "

Behind Weiss, Eve burst through the darkness. Blaine's shield burst into smoke, parting aside by the edge of her blade. Weiss tried to bring herself to bear, but she was far too slow.

The rest is up to me.

He flexed his abs, raising himself to a forty-five degrees sitting position. Thanking his morning routine, he declared: "Sprint."

A force slammed into his back and sent him blasting forward. He elbowed Weiss to safety with a flailing arm, before plowing into Eve. She blocked him with her blade, absorbing the impact. Then, he fell on his face at her feet much like a wooden board flopping over. His lower legs barely responded to him too.

Eve took the chance to raise her blade and thrust it into his back.

Jaune spat out dirt, choking.

Eve frowned, before raising her blade and shoving it back down again.

"Stop, it tickles!" He guffawed despite himself. Taking the chance, he used his upper leg to spin his body around and deflect her third blade strike into the dirt. Using the twisting motion of his body, he whipped his useless left arm around much alike a flail to - coincidentally, zero percent premeditated - slap Eve across the face hard.

It even rang out across the field, despite the elemental chaos around them.

The blow was hard enough that she stumbled away from him, almost falling to her feet. Jaune took the chance to stand back up, albeit with a whole lot of effort and wobbling. As they both recomposed themselves to face each other, Jaune recognized that they had most likely come to the same understanding over how the current conflict will play out. Either Jaune recovered and won, or she charged up another of that attack of hers and won.

Hm?

Jaune's gaze followed hers, and his eyes lowered to a gash on his forearm dripping with blood.

I definitely wasn't focusing too hard that time! Was… Was I just distracted? It wasn't wounded when he was with Weiss. Perhaps it opened up, like stitchings?

Eve narrowed her eyes. She charged at him with her katana, holding it in a two handed grip and prepared for a wide strike. Jaune threw up his arms, letting them flop in front of himself.

[Admin]: Your Aura isn't recognizing it as part of your body yet.

What?! He hurriedly dropped his arms, barely keeping his balance on his wobbly legs. Using what muscles he had control over, he thrust his face forward and parried the katana blade with his nose. Thanks for the tip, Dark.

The blade grinded against invisible iron, each unwilling to budge an inch.

Eve's eyes widened in surprise, a red glaring mark decorating her noble cheek. "Why…" Then, she narrowed them as she pushed it harder against his Aura. His unresponsive lower legs almost failed him, but Jaune balanced on them as if they were stilts and pushed back just as hard with his nose. Soft flesh and cartilage defied thousand-folded steel. "How is this possible?" She forced through gritted teeth, pushing her blade with all her strength.

Jaune took the chance. "Hey, quick question. Are you seriously fighting us just because my friend wants to steal your boyfriend?"

"What?" Eve's grip loosened. "What?!"

"Is that not it?"

"We're an honest political organization!" Eve said, insulted.

We have different definitions of 'honest'. "Then what the hell do you all want?!"

The proximity of their faces, separated by a single blade, made it easier for Jaune to see every change on her face. At first, skepticism made her squint, but clearly her facial muscles tightened as a darker emotion took over. A shadow seemed to be casted over her, followed by a pain that made her bare her teeth.

"Do you know what it's like?" Her words were whispered at first. "To live by the whims of a selfish, egomaniacal god?"

Jaune stiffened.

"When the river of Lars flooded and displaced ten thousand peasants, who was it that closed the Golden Gates against his own people?" She spat. "When the Plague swept across the Driftwood plains, who was it that hounded medicine until more than half of it rotted away rather than be used?" Her voice had raised enough to scream in his face.

Sparks flew as steel and nose grinded against each other, matching in hardness.

She caught herself, recomposing. "Ruled by a King who sees us as pawns to be sacrificed in a game… Do you think you could sit still?"

Jaune's mind spun. So many things were happening at once and he was inundated with information and tasks. He needed to stabilize his Aura. He had new skills that he hadn't had a chance to look at yet. How would he bring Aura back to his arms? How should he deal with Eve? Lastly, most of all, his conversation with Weiss weighed in his mind.

But then, he took a breath, and brought all of his scattered, messy thoughts back into focus.

And as his eyes opened back up, his irises glowed with white light, catching Eve's sneak attack with a second nose block.

I have a goal.

Everything else is meaningless.

I'm not in a position where I have the leeway for error.

In response, Eve broke their stalemate once more and went at him from a different angle. Sweeping from the right this time, her blade carved a graceful arc in the air at his back. "I took you down once, I can do it again!" She called.

Jaune quickly leapt backwards, arching his body much alike a dolphin leaping out of the water, and headbutted her blade. For a second, his eyes caught the incredulous eyes of one of her masked men, before he landed on the ground and with great artistry collapsed bonelessly into a pile. Using his flapping arms, he sprung back up into a wobbly standing position.

"...Would a god behave with such… elegance?" Eve said.

"I am no god." Jaune admitted, his eyes glowing much like one. "Nor am I a hero gilded with light, or a chosen guided by destiny."

Eve frowned. "What?"

His facial expression tensed, as emotions welled up. "I am me." The quivering of his facial muscles betrayed a hidden turmoil. "A being so flawed it makes me ashamed."

He thought about all the mistakes he had made. How he had barely taken his situation seriously, both before and after the arrival of the gods. How he had missed the obvious hints on how his current actions would affect him, and how shortsighted he had been. All of that could be encompassed in the past few hours, where he now placed someone else, completely unrelated to gods or pickles, into danger.

His regrets swept him aside, a wave of grief over time he would never get back. A senseless darkening of his awareness.

"But maybe…"

He took a breath, grabbing a hold of all that emotion.

"...It was all for a reason."

All that throbbing pain, blistering anger, festering hurt - he cast it aside. Down, to the deepest, darkest part of his heart… to be procrastinated upon.

Because he had a goal.

With almost rabid energy, he suddenly burst into movement, snapping with his mouth. Her weaving blade that was aiming to take advantage of his weakness was snatched in his maw, catching her off guard. His enamel dug into the metal, but Eve was just as weary about his abilities and quickly extracted it with a sharp twist. Despite that, his teeth tore tracts into her katana, making the metal screech.

Eve took a few steps back once more, guarded.

Jaune spat out rolls of metal, expressionless. Focused, watching. Waiting.

"Those wasted hours doing nothing but to entertain my boredom." He said, his words surprisingly solemn. "Those years spent unmoving, like I was stuck in a prison of my own mind. Perhaps they led me to this."

"What fallacious discourse are you spouting now?!" Eve said. She eyed the battles happening around them, but Jaune knew he had to beat Eve or she would get a chance to take him down again.

"My mistakes led me to where I am now." He said with almost a rasp. "To make the right choice… now." It was so clear to Jaune, now that he had realized it. Like everything had just come back into focus.

Eve readjusted her grip on her blade, uncaring of his actions. "Whatever personal revelation you have arrived to, it matters little now. Your arms are barely usable and so are your legs. Your chance has passed."

"That's where you are wrong." Jaune easily said. A small melancholic smile appeared in the corner of his mouth. "It's never too late."

A number of masked men suddenly approached them, leaving the battles around them. "Ma'am, we've finally gotten away from Blaine. Do you need - "

"Charge me up!" She ordered, sprinting at full speed to create distance between her and Jaune. Faster than Jaune could hobble. Then, her allies did as they were told, firing spells into her blocking blade. Much alike before, red energy built up, crackling along the weathered steel.

Jaune instead merely focused on himself, taking another breath. He let his mind clear, remembering how it felt every time he channeled his Aura. He remembered his lessons with Weiss and Pyrrha, and he remembered the words of the real Weiss. And from all that, he synthesized his own answer - his own meaning.

Just like before, the world darkened and the shattered moon reigned among crimson skies. A power so terrible the very world conceded to its whims. He had been almost killed by it before, and seeing its ominous sight invoked grave feelings within him.

But this time, he was ready.

Eve's magic swallowed the world whole in a crimson madness. A crawling, festering wave until - there, in the center of its cruel embrace - Jaune's white, shining Aura, stood defiant. Against the encroaching arc of supercharged magic, Jaune raised his arm… and declared.

There was no sound - for it was more mental, more spiritual. A command of the heart, or perhaps a commandment of the soul. Whatever it was, the laws of reality heard his abjuration of their will… and surrendered.

The blazing red arc crashed against the shores of white light and broke, scattering.

Notifications of new skills appeared in his HUD, but he ignored them. For now, there were goals that he desired, a thirst unlike all cravings. Something beyond the mundane, yet all together far too normal.

For it is in unmoving that we build our wanderlust. For it is in utter defeat that we learn how to triumph. And…

Eve roared, leaping into the fray, through the broken remnants of her previous attack, her blade charged with power yet this time coming in with a personal touch. She gave him no time to recover, pressing on.

He closed his eyes.

"...For it is in passing that we achieve immortality." He swore.

[?]: 17%

I do not need to despair for a lack of originality or uniqueness - for my mistakes are my own. Only I can take responsibility for my own failings.

His eyes snapped open.

That, I can trust.

He caught her blade with his firm hand, sheathed in his light, his soul manifested into reality. Rooting him in his position, his feet buried themselves into the ground like concrete columns. But then his Aura went further, cascading out from him like the oncoming of pure, untainted dawn. For his life, this would be his vow. A constitution written in his promise to himself. A new start, for himself.

Conviction, made material.

Eve looked into his eyes, and whatever she had found, she recoiled. He didn't care - he expelled her from his Aura with a kick, tearing her weapon from her grasp.

So that is what the First Huntress meant.

His hand glided along the edge, feeling the blade that almost took his life. It weighed heavily upon him in both senses of the word, and he watched his own reflection upon its marred surface. This time there was no other face in its glint, there was just himself.

He shattered it. The broken pieces fell to the ground in a shower of steel, the crackling red magic dissipating.

Eve tumbled on the ground, rolling. As she came to a stop and raised her face, he could see the disbelief in her eyes, holding her ribs. The other masked men around them wearily retreated to her side.

There was stirring in his peripheral vision that grabbed his attention too, though in their case it was more about the opposite: a lack of action. His gaze strayed from his direct enemies to the field, where he noticed the termination of everyone else's battles. They all stared; the masked men standing in their scattered formation, Blaine, holding aloft clouds of strange mists painted like the night with a wave of his hand, and buff Weiss still holding a heap of rock above her.

[?]: 32%

"I command you - " Something in his voice sounded ethereal, out there. A familiar tinge, like he had heard from somewhere once - "Stop fighting," Whatever it was, it quickly dimmed, disappearing from his voice. "Or I will make you stop."

There was a pause, until: "Or wha - ?" One of the masked men had to say.

Jaune launched himself at the man with the blinding speed of a 'Sprint' and his hand penetrated through the chestplate the man was wearing as if it was dough. The sudden fear in the man's eyes as his own glowing ones stared him down arose a feeling of superiority and sadism that Jaune had to quickly put down. He had planned on only scaring him, and his fingers hadn't gone through deep. With a pull, he tore the chestplate off him.

The warped metal clanged on the ground like trash.

"Next time, that will be your chest," Jaune said with detachment.

For the usual Jaune, he would have never even considered such an action - no, even such words alone. But this was the Jaune who had seen blood and the cost of failure, and for the moment he would play the role of the judge. Should they wish to face the executioner, it would be their choice, not his.

But it wouldn't be so easy. The terrorist in front of Jaune merely stepped back to give himself space, before stomping the ground. To Jaune's surprise, rather than earth, huge buzzsaws unburrowed themselves. "We were always ready to die for the cause."

Jaune's hands balled into fists - his reaction was sharper than he intended, far so, but he'd hoped he could at least keep running with it. Yet as his bluff was called he was left uncertain on what to do, before Blaine's hand on his shoulder stopped him. When did he get so close? From his blazer pocket, Blaine took out a tool. Jaune recognized it. It's that thing, the device with the ribbon and blade that Weiss got in our last playthrough by leveling up Blaine's reputation points. Looks like she got it again and gave it to him.

[?]: 0%

Eve suddenly smiled wistfully. "I thought you threw it away when you left this life behind."

"I thought I did too." Blaine agreed. "But old friends just keep coming back." He pointed it at the person Jaune was fighting. "Don't move your saws an inch forward, Lieutenant… I don't want anyone else to die."

"Don't call me by my first name, Blake."

Blaine narrowed his eyes.

Jaune titled his head. Blake?

"He's right." Eve got up unsteadily. She was covered in dirt, twigs, and leaves. Her uniform was disheveled and ripped. "If you want to keep your identity a secret, you should also do the same with others'. Golden rule." She walked past the other members of her team, approaching Blaine further than anyone else.

Jaune watched Blaine finger the trigger on his device. Oh it's a gun. He's holding them all at gunpoint.

"You know that's useless against me, even without my blade." Eve held out her scabbard in front of her. "No matter where you shoot, you know I will absorb it."

She can block bullets with a sheathe? He paused. Ah, that's just another Tuesday for video games.

"Then I will shoot the others myself." Blaine threatened.

"I know you can't stomach that."

He growled, raising the gun and aiming at her. "Don't make me choose between you and the Saintess."

"You have no choice."

"You always have a choice." Weiss stepped up, crossing her huge muscular arms. It was quite difficult with how large they were, reducing her joint range. "I will not let you force this onto him under duress."

"Get off your high horse, commoner." Eve snarled.

"Then, please, gentlemen. I think she needs to be stopped." Weiss' attention was not on Eve, but rather behind her, towards the maze.

Eve looked at her, confused. Jaune was far less, as his eyes widened as the maze behind Eve shifted. Much like a complex rubix cube, or more like a transforming machine, sections of the hedges disconnected and floated away at a wide scale. The masked men stepped back as out from the shifting maze stepped out the headmaster, a set of guards decorated in royal emblems, and a familiar blond prince.

"I believe it is past curfew, Blaine Belladon." The headmaster lowered his raised riding crop, the magical glow dimming from it. "Your roommate was worried for your safety, and I see that he wasn't incorrect."

[Override Successful]

I forgot about them!

Yan took one look at Blaine's state and immediately burst past the ranks of the masked men, a flaming fist covered in scales smashing into Eve's raised scabbard. Still, she was only pushed back, her feet digging trenches into the dirt. "Don't you dare touch him, White Fang!" The man yelled. There was none of his usual teasing mirth.

"Yan…" Blaine muttered.

Yan's burning fist ignited a second time, scorching hot flames writhing between him and Eve as he pushed ever harder down on her. "And Blaine! I told you to stop going off on your own, didn't I?! Tell me for once where you go!"

"Yan, it's fine - don't hurt her." Weiss intervened. "Blaine is safe. They are all superficial now, the blood is nothing to worry about. I healed him."

Yan's attention turned to her. Jaune watched as she expertly maneuvered the dialogue tree, and calmed him down. As that happened, the royal guards surrounded the White Fang's back, giving them no way to retreat. The masked men started looking nervous.

"Then that's it?" Eve looked at Blaine. "You choose these new 'friends' of yours, above us?" She then whispered. "Above me?"

"I…"

Her distress bubbled over, and she screamed at Blaine, losing all composure. "You think they are more important than your true family? Who was there when you were all alone, abandoned by your vassals and with nothing to your name but the clothes on your back? Who was there for you when you were hungry, and desperate? That's right, it was us. It was us!"

"It was wrong of us to - " Blaine tried to say.

"To what?!" In a sudden burst of strength she pushed Yan off. "To leave a mission while it's in progress? To escape yourself and leave me to deal with the consequences? To abandon me on a train, crawling with enemies golems - To what, Blake?!"

"I had to think of the innocents that you were not considering." He retorted. "We are not finding Eden with their blood on our hands, we can do it without killing!"

"Then what about our lives?!" She yelled back. "What about our friends at the terminal station, who need extraction? Did we factor in at all? They come at us with the intent to kill!"

"I knew you'd… be fine." Blaine said, suddenly quiet.

Jaune winced. That did sound a little callus.

"I trusted your skill. I couldn't let innocent - "

"Then you should have asked me!"

"I did! When I asked about the 'innocents' that we didn't expect you said 'what about them' - "

"I was in a rush!" She roared. "We had just fought past a number of security golem and barely won, my blood boiling with adrenaline. Do you think I understood how much you valued them? If you cared so much then why didn't you just stop and talk. If you think it's so important then convince me, the leader of the expedition!"

Jaune winced. It sounded like they had lots of baggage together. He turned away from the scene as the White Fang were apprehended by the combined efforts of the Headmaster and royal guards. Eve, at that point, seemed to be running out of steam.

"What happened to just talking?" She finally said, as her wrists were cuffed.

Blaine only closed his eyes, wincing.

Jaune shook his head. I suppose being a man of few words has some downsides.

Yan walked up to Blaine. "You were a White Fang?" He asked.

That's a terrible name. But they did blow up the school once, so I guess they ain't nothing.

Blaine nodded, hesitant.

"But you left them. So, I guess…" Yan tried. "It's fine? It's kind of strange though, didn't peg you for the type. They got to you because you had nowhere else to go, huh?"

At that, Eve looked in surprise at Yan, then at Blaine. "You never told him?"

"I wouldn't tell me if I was a terrorist either." Jaune said. I contributed to the conversation!

"No, I was talking about how you never told them about Dragonlord Raven." She said.

Blaine suddenly stiffened. "Don't you dare."

The Dragonlords have been mentioned a lot. I think before, I heard some students talk about them in fear. Actual dragons, perhaps?

"And the real reason you joined the White Fang."

"Eve!" He barked. "If you tell him, I will never forgive you!"

Yan looked between them. "Tell me what?"

"Stop her, I command you, with my authority as a prince!" Blaine pointed at the guards.

"Hey, she just wants to talk. If she lies, she lies. What's the harm?" Yan laughed it off.

The guards were clearly unsure what to do. The Headmaster himself also seemed curious at what she had to say. Not to mention Jaune himself. A glance at Weiss revealed the same.

"Everything about Blaine Belladon's existence is a lie." Eve said with a grin. "He is no distantly related orphan taken in as the only Belladon blood. He is Blake Belladon - true born heir of House Belladon. Third in line to the Throne by the dying decree of Queen Octavia, First of her name. Rightful ruler of the Badlands and Lord Magician of the Night."

Blaine rushed forward towards her, and was caught by another set of guards. He yelled at them to let him go as her gaze turned to Yan, who's mirth had died.

Third in line to the throne?! Jaune raised an eyebrow. Okay, princes, yeah, I thought fine, Saudi's got like hundreds of them, if not thousands. But isn't that insane? His mind also caught on to another detail. Not third in line to the Throne by birthright, but by the dying decree of the Queen. The oddity of the four princes being all from different houses…

Could there be no direct line of succession?

Jaune's breath stilled. Isn't that a huge succession crisis?!

It didn't take him long to amend that thought, however. No, wait, even if the Queen nominated a number of other houses to become princely houses, Weis has been chosen as crown prince. Shouldn't that count for something?

…No, it probably does count for something, but not enough. Or else there wouldn't have been this plot with House Belladonna. It can't be a coincidence.

"Okay, but that's just wild theories," said Yan. "Blake Belladon and the rest of the mainline family died at the fire at their estate thirteen years ago. Blaine is not him."

So that's why he was a quote unquote wanderer! He was able to escape and was found in the nick of time by Maria!

"A fire, hm? And who does that remind you of?"

"The Dragonlords?!" Jaune interjected. Isn't Yan a Dragonlord?! He shot the other blond a look, noticing that all mirth had died.

The corner of Eve's mouth curled up. "Yes, how astute. The fire was a cover up, for a power play by none other than the Dragonlords themselves."

"My father's a bit of a dick, but he wouldn't do that. Such a thing would not pass underneath the careful gaze of the mad king - " Yan's eyes met Blaine's. "...Blaine?"

"You don't know your father, Prince Xiao Long. You know nothing." The viciousness in her words made Jaune step back, cutting like the blade she had once wielded. "Just like you have no idea that Dragonlord Raven himself was there that night, tearing Duke Belladon up in half in front of Duchess Belladon and then skewering her against their mantle. I know all about that!" The moment she dropped the name, a hush came over everyone present.

Jaune, despite not knowing who it was, felt the intensity of the emotions of the people around him through their hard expressions and tense forms.

"That's… quite the accusation." Weiss blinked. "You are accusing a Duke of murdering another Duke. That has wide political implications."

"Dragon Prince Yan, you know too little of your faction's plans." She laughed hysterically, shaking her head. "Upon my family's name, do I swear, that this is the truth - and only the truth."

"We've heard enough. Take her away." The headmaster called. The guards did as he asked, dragging her towards the school gates, through the reconfigured maze.

Oh shit. So Blaine's best friend's father killed his parents?! I mean, in real life, that's probably just a lie, but this is a game so it has to be real, or it's too much wasted screentime!

"You know something." Yan said. His gaze had not left Blaine. "There's something you're not telling me. She's lying, isn't she?"

Blaine looked away. "Yes, she's lying."

"I've been your friend for a long time, Blaine. You're an honest person. You're not good at hiding things, even for people who've just met you." Yan said. Jaune watched as a set of scales peeked out from Yan' uniform, cutting its way out. Then, smoke surrounded him as smoldering flames ignited from the scales. "You've always been honest to me - why aren't you now? It's definitely all fabrication, right?"

"Mr. Xiao Long." The Headmaster warned.

"It's not a theory!" Eve yelled from afar, struggling against her captors. "Blake himself would know! After all… He was there and saw it all!"

Jaune's gaze snapped to Blaine, who had stumbled. The black haired man gripped his face with one hand, growling deeply, cursing Eve.

"You saw it yourself?" Yan muttered. His face was downcast, and his flames died down. Jaune blinked in confusion as the headmaster and other guards noticeably took a large step back. Weiss followed them, leaving Jaune where he was. Huh?

"Mr. Xiao Long, it is very likely you are misunderstanding - "

Yan exploded in flames. "RAAAVENNNNNN!" He roared skyward. Jaune was sent flying backwards, tumbling against the ground, but not injured at all. Where Yan stood, however, became an inferno as scales of boiling magma wreathed itself around his body, burning up his uniform into ash. "How dare you do that to my best friend!" Yan screamed.

A dialog window opened before Weiss, freezing the world.

"I can't stop him. My reputation with him is too low. The game window says he's in a bloodrage, unresponsive to my pleas." She sighed.

"Ah, so this is what we discussed." Jaune said, laying on the floor, having finished his barrel roll. "To finish Blaine's plotline, we need to raise multiple people's reputations."

She thought for a bit. "It would be difficult to raise them both before the school bombing, but I think I can raise both to the first reward point if I try hard enough. Still…" She looked back at the bonfire that was Yan. "Do we need to stop him?"

"Hm?"

"I feel a certain kinship…" She trailed off.

"Kinship?!" He facepalmed. "What does that even mean… Still, I can't believe Blaine hid that from Yan, though." Jaune commented, standing up.

"Unsurprising."

"Why so?"

She looked at him as if it was obvious. "Dragonlord Raven was powerful enough to assassinate both of Blaine - or rather, Blake's - parents and get away with it personally. Not to mention he's a prince's father, despite not being royalty himself. The amount of political maneuvering to be able to accomplish all of this would be incredible. You wouldn't want to make someone like that your enemy." She glanced at Yan, who's flames were frozen by the game. "And some people clearly aren't good at hiding their true intentions. Blake must have been worried for him."

"And now Yan might go and fight a kind of guy like that, and screw over everything. You mean after all that - like me almost dying once, we might still fail because we didn't know we had to talk to Yan more?! That's bullshit!"

"That's how these games work. Unless you turn on the easy mode, which shows you the right option every time for the best ending."

"Then there's no damn point!" He exclaimed. "I - I guess if we fail, then we can just try again next time." Oddly, the words didn't feel right in his mouth.

"I don't want there to have to be a third time." Looking at Weiss' serious eyes, it seemed like she felt the same way. Jaune wondered what the feeling was.

"Let's take our time, then. We should consider which option is the best." He said finally.

Suddenly, the world shook.

Weiss and Jaune' attention was pulled to the school, fearing that the school had exploded once more despite their efforts. We didn't disarm anything yet! He thought, but no, it wasn't that. Rather, as the shaking continued, they realized that every character was still frozen in time.

"What is this?!" Jaune asked, once it stopped.

[Admin]: Simple. You're starting to wake up.

"We're waking up?!" He yelped.

"You're certain?" Weiss said, alarmed.

"Definitely."

The two stared at each other.

"...You thought that it was never going to end too?" He asked.

"It did seem to be a dream that was overstaying its welcome."

"Then, we need to speedrun the rest!" He turned to her game window. "Quickly!"

"Wait."

Her voice made him look at her. There was a gravity to it. Or maybe a sudden seriousness? I can't tell. There was a flash of fear in his chest. "What is it?" He tried to be casual.

"I… Need to talk to you."

"You are, in fact."

She twitched in annoyance. "I was thinking about what Eve said. About talking it out."

"...About talking…?"

"I don't want things between us to be awkward."

Ah. "It's not awkward." I mean, you saved me from death. That's gotta be worth something. He laughed it off. "What's a little argument between friends? Anyways, we don't have time to chitchat."

"I must sort this out before the dream ends."

"If you have anything else, we can just talk once we're awake - "

"And what happens if you feign ignorance?"

Jaune met her gaze. He had no response.

"You are hiding much from me." She continued. "You haven't told me what's going on. How do you think I can just leave it like that?"

Her stare at him was droning. It made him a little uncomfortable, like she was seeing through him. Please don't read my mind. I'm thinking about the fact that despite all that muscle… you are still short.

"...There's nothing to talk about." He finally said.

Her gaze felt like it was burrowing into him. "There's a little bit about you that I've learned, Jaune." She started. "Despite how you look, you are nothing like Blake or Yan."

"In what ways?"

"You wear your emotions on your sleeve, but only the ones you want to be there."

He scoffed. "You make me sound like a master manipulator. I'm nothing of the sort."

"It's the kind of fakery that I can only attribute to a lifetime of thinly veiled, superficial platitudes. The dark arts of customer service."

"Oh, never mind, you got it right."

Her gaze met his. "Therefore, I think you're surprisingly good at hiding just how nervous you can be sometimes or, let's just say… how absolutely much you hate me right now."

"And now you're wrong."

"Am I?"

Jaune looked askance. "It's not hatred."

"What is it then, if I may ask."

"You may not." He poked his head at the screen. "Could we move on?" His smile was still plastered on his face.

"I apologize, but I think you misunderstood me back then. I would like to correct it."

"In what way?" He smiled. There was only one way to interpret what you said, Weiss.

[Admin]: …I never realized how similar you were, in this Cycle…

Jaune ignored the message.

"...I said some things I didn't really mean." She paused. "No, to be honest with you, I did mean some of it - however, I only meant it in the most respectful of ways, before it was twisted by my emotional state." She sounded like she was trying to carefully word it.

"R - Respectful?!" If his tone of voice didn't give away his dumbfoundedness, his face would have. He wanted to leave. He wanted to just tell her to screw off.

"...I know it isn't much... but... I - " Weiss looked up at him. Her eyes traced the features on his face, as her mouth stilled.

Jaune shifted impatiently. Did she really think he would accept such a half-assed apology? I don't care if someone's head explodes in front of you. That's pretty freaky, not to mention the live steel and all that, but it doesn't mean you can just say whatever you want to me!

"I..." She repeated. Her gaze fell to a spot on the floor between them.

I'm so done listening.

"I…"

He turned to face the floating game window, as this whole debacle grated at his nerves. He wanted to put it behind him. Far, far behind him.

"I…" She said quietly. "I still want to be friends."

Something came over Jaune. A wave of emotion he could not even start to describe. The words themselves were cheap, but from Weiss, it was so strange, so enormous. It was so cringy, so dumb - there were a thousand negative ways he could describe it.

Yet the olive branch was extended with such desperation and vulnerability that he was stunned and couldn't move.

…So those were the parts of her that she was talking about, the parts that are putting me off right now. Jaune realized. The parts of her she hated. No wonder she was angry, for me to console her when I didn't even know she had sides like that. She knew about it, and was feeling self-conscious - for good reason.

"So what? Now that you said the magic words, you now feel entitled to my forgiveness? Just like that?" The words had more bite than he meant for it to have.

"No." She said firmly. "You don't need to forgive me - and in fact, might never…" Her voice broke. "J-Just give me a chance to set it right."

…I'm just so surprised she can even say these things. Every word sounded so difficult out of her throat, yet still, there she was, pushing through it.

She seemed to take his silence as a sign to keep talking. "While we were... laying on the floor, you were trying to console me, but I am not blind either - I could feel the emptiness behind your words. And it annoyed me - your… hypocrisy."

Hypocrisy?! Jaune wanted to yell back, but his tongue still as Weiss' previous words came to him. And not just hers, but other's. Whatever he was going to say died as his mind spun.

"You, of all people, were reiterating to me words you barely understood - words you are telling me to take at heart when you haven't applied it to yourself yet. True sincerity is not something that you can cover with just fancy words and pompous attitude." She awkwardly chuckled, clearly self-conscious.

"And that is all I meant." She continued. "I said some insensitive things about you, I admit that, and I regret them deeply for what harm they have wrought upon you. A lot of what I said was through the lens of irrational anger. I'm deeply, very deeply… S…S - Sor…"

Her words suddenly felt like they were frozen in ice, yet she persevered until they did come out. "Sorry."

Jaune took a sharp breath of air.

…I'm such a pushover.

However, only one thing stuck in his mind. He gave the moment a little more time to develop, before he spoke up. "You mentioned the emptiness of my conviction again?"

"Ah?" She seemed surprised at the tone of his voice. "Yes. It comes through with how you act, what your appearance is, what kind of body language you have. Not to mention your decisions… or the results."

Jaune flashed back to himself laying down beneath the moon, on the field, defeated, at Eve's feet.

"I… I will also admit I have my own problems." Jaune said. He thought it was only fair. "You're not wrong about what you said about me. But I also don't want to keep going like this. As me, like how I am right now." So much could have been prevented today if I put in the work. He closed his eyes. "I've already heard about what Ren said about the initial spark, about habits, yet I'm still like this." His frustration came through as his words sped up. "I haven't done anything since then to change, and I know it hasn't been long, but I'm afraid it will keep going - and years will have passed and I'm still the same."

"Then all you need now is to take responsibility, like you have done today."

"...Responsability?"

"Yes." Weiss said. "Even before every decision, you need to start setting up to make the right choice. You can't rely on yourself in the moment. Will is a fragile thing, broken far easier than you think. And if your own preparation doesn't work, there's sometimes nothing wrong - there should be nothing wrong…" She smiled awkwardly. "...With asking for help."

"I need to take responsibility for my choice." He repeated slowly. "...I never thought I was an irresponsible person." But now that Weiss mentioned it, he supposed he was actually quite irresponsible. He didn't care about his studies much nor his future. "But maybe it's true. I have no plans… I am just waiting out my life." He said quietly.

The reason Weiss words stung had nothing to do with her looking down on my major. He realized. It was this.

And she put it in such a way that made the blow devastating.

"...That does not seem conducive to a good life." Weiss said.

[Admin]: Every path has a way to success. English majors go and become editors, translators. Office work, marketing… Where will you be going, Jaune?

Nowhere. "But it's fine, you know." He suddenly laughed. "I might not have it all figured out - "

"Understatement of the year."

" - Then, if worse comes to worst…" His laughter died down. "...I go back home, and beg either my parents or my sisters, or my many cousins for a better job. Someone successful, you know."

Weiss stilled.

[Admin]: There it is.

"...What did you say?" She asked. "I believe I just heard something outrageous."

"Well," He hurriedly said. "It's not like I want to - I moved out alone because I wanted to learn to be independent."

"That is respectable enough."

"But well, living by myself isn't as fun as I thought." He continued. "It's easy to get lonely, especially if your social circle isn't large."

Weiss watched him, but seemed to be suddenly careful with her words in a way she wasn't before. "Living alone? Sounds inefficient. Roommates will make it cheaper."

[Admin]: Dealing with roommates, especially people you don't know, can be difficult.

"Well, yeah, but it's not that bad as my parents cover three-quarters of the rent of the apartment already. The worst part is the kitchen and bathroom cleaning, it's kind of too big for one person - " Jaune said.

Weiss' stared at him.

"...Did you just say apartment? And your own kitchen? And you were complaining about it being too large?"

"Yes…?"

There was a craziness in Weiss' eyes that made him step back.

"B - But I do have to pay my bills by myself! I still need to work about twenty hours a week at McDough's, the remaining expenses are still quite high - Not to mention that I still need to sprint fifteen minutes to the Subway - "

"Just twenty hours a week? Near the subway?" Her movements had twitching motion to it not unlike those from a horror movie. "High expenses despite the largest one, rent, being mostly covered?"

[Admin]: She looks like she's about to tear out your spine and use it as a sword.

Thankfully she can't move. He sweated.

She shuddered, forcibly relaxing, before she lifted her head back up and smiled at him. "Can I please stuff a Large Heal down your throat?" She said with a sickening sweet voice. "The katana comes as a package deal."

"N - No thanks…?"

She sighed, shuddering with rage. "You have no idea how blessed you are, aren't you?"

I guess I didn't. He paused. I mean, it should be normal for parents to support their kids while they're in university, right? But from Weiss' reaction… His expression became downcast. What they discussed before about his intelligence came back to him. So many aspects of himself, he had never even truly understood.

Was normalcy just an excuse?

…Did I ever even know myself?

"...Then how about you?" The words left his mouth, though his mind wasn't on it. "Are you 'normal'?"

The tension seeped out from her, as she straightened. A mysterious smile eased onto her face. "...What do you mean? I'm just… a normal girl."

The melancholy in her voice made Jaune' exhaustion become heavier. Feeling light headed, he plopped down onto the grass. Then, he fell backwards onto his back, letting his gaze lock skyward to the shattered moon.

This is getting too complicated. He let his thoughts drift. Too much happened today, and he wasn't in a state to deal with it. Transforming mazes, terrorists, political power-plays, it was quite the basket of insanity.

He sighed, letting his stress escape through his breath.

Hm?

He tilted his head to the right, putting the transformed maze into view. After the Headmaster's actions, sections of the maze had been half-hazardly pushed aside, clearing a straight path through it that they had walked through previously. Currently, Jaune could see a blond student walk through it.

Ah, someone who was curious about what's going on.

[?]: 3%

"Do you think I should go for it from the Blaine angle to calm him down?" Weiss asked.

Jaune turned to her. "In what way?"

"Mostly to remind him that burning everything isn't going to help the fact that Blaine is in a precarious situation right now. We aren't sure about how his reveal as Blake and ex-White Fang member is going to affect his situation."

"Ah." Jaune turned back to the maze. Wait a second… Doesn't something seem very off…? The blond student continued walking towards them.

"Not to mention the fact that I believe Dragonlord Raven is in sight range."

Jaune's attention snapped back to her. "Dragonlord Raven is what."

She pointed out there, at the skybox. "Doesn't that look like a dragon?"

His eyes locked what she was talking about. It stood out against the empty sky. "Isn't that just a cloud?"

[?]: 15%

"It's quite odd for it to be alone there."

"It's a cloud." Jaune said. "It can do whatever it wants - Wait, wait, Weiss!" He quickly leapt to his feet, turning his attention to the maze in realization.

'Blonde student walk through it'?' he recalled. We're frozen in time… How could anyone be moving except me? He thought urgently. However, he saw no maze anymore. Instead, the figure had teleported, appearing right in front of him, blocking his sight. This time, though, under the moonlight, Jaune saw the face clearly.

It was his own.

[?]: 78%

Or - not exactly, he thought. It was more feminine, with rounder cheekbones and larger cheeks. There was also one more very significant difference.

A set of glowing scars marred her face.

He had seen these scars before. Back on the surface of his cracking blade. Back in Initiation.

All this, he had noticed in a split-second. Unluckily for Jaune, his doppelganger acted fast and in the next split-second reached at him with a familiar well manicured hand with lightning speed. A hand that was crackling in sickly yellow bolts of light.

Aura should -

The hand grabbed his face and followed through, slamming him back into the ground right as he was about to get up.

Instantly, he knew no more.

[?]: 100%

[System]: Data extraction request completed through direct connection.

[System]: Closing secure gateway.

[Supervisor]: You have called, and I answer.

/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/

Weiss quickly selected a random option to unfreeze herself. "Jaune!" She called. As the shorter Jaune kneeled on the ground with the unmoving Jaune in hand, Weiss readied to cast a Large Heal into its face.

Only to realize she still couldn't move.

Her attention snapped back to her game window, which was still there and hadn't gone away. Did I miss? She quickly selected her option again, but this time, she saw it fizzle and glitch before returning to its original state.

[System]: Control disabled by Supervisor.

Supervisor?

The blond clone rose from the kneeling position he had landed in. He had a thinner build than her Jaune and seemed to be looking at the body on the ground with confusion. Then, when he turned to her, suddenly seemed to brighten up.

"Weiss!" He said.

Weiss concealed her surprise. He had a distinctly feminine voice. A little too feminine, like the voice a game character would have but not to the extent of an anime girl. The face was definitely also more effeminate. "Do I… know you?" What is going on?! Jaune, you don't get to sit this out! Explain this!

'Jaune' tilted her head at her. Then, he looked down at himself. "Wait, why am I wearing this? Where's my uniform?" He unbuttoned his blazer… and then it was pretty clear that Weiss had this 'Jaune' sex incorrect. 'Jaune' strolled up to Weiss, who was still frozen, and at the closer range Weiss wondered how she had been mixed up in the first place. The female Jaune had surprisingly good skin, and no facial blemishes to be found.

She shook Weiss' hand. "Nice to meet you, Weiss!"

Weiss watched her hand move up and down without her consent. "...The pleasure is mine… Ms…?"

"Ah!" The female Jaune giggled. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! I am Maria. Maria Arc… and I've been watching you after you've taken my place."

"Oh." Weiss was rendered speechless. "...I do apologize?"

"No, no! I was a bit miffed at first, but…" Maria raised Weiss' hand up to her lips. Then, she kissed it. Weiss stared as Maria gently lowered the hand. "How dare my male, interloper self take so much of your attention?" She said with a pout.

Weiss, so blown away by the turn of events, was still processing.

"You see… Weiss," Maria glided a hand past Weiss' ear, only to take out a red rose in full bloom. "I don't think he understands how much you've gone through. How much you have had to endure. Yet, despite everything, you work still so hard. I fell in love with your determination, Weiss. I fell in love with your grace, your tart retorts. I fell in love with you."

Maria knelt down in front of Weiss. And, to Weiss' who knows how many bafflements today, Maria presented her with a diamond ring. "Weiss." Maria said with grandeur. "I can treat you better than he can. Would you marry me?"

A game window appeared before Weiss with two options: 'Yes' and 'No'. She stared at it as if it was the world's most incomprehensible math equation.

"I…" This is clearly a fever dream. "I thwink - " Weiss had bit her tongue. "No, I - I'm honored…"

Maria pouted. "Ah, I guess it's a little out of nowhere."

A little?! I've just been proposed to by the crossdressing, female, dating sim version of my friend - who was coincidentally also the heroine - I can bet you that this is a situation literally no one will ever be in! And I'm not even romantically interested in the fairer sex! She glanced towards the male Jaune's body. He was still unconscious.

"First of all," Weiss finally decided upon her words. "What did you do to him?"

"Huh? I didn't - I woke up like that. Hand on his face." Maria shrugged. "Happens sometimes."

"Happens sometimes?!"

"Only recently. Still, is this a roundabout rejection?"

"Look." Weiss sighed. "I've known you for all of a few minutes."

"But some people fall in love at first sight, you know? Plus, technically, you've been reading my theoretical thoughts across an accelerated few months!"

"That does not count in any shape or form."

"It could…"

"It does not."

"How about we start as friends, then?"

She's so annoyingly pushy. Still, it is a safe answer. "Acquaintances."

"Awww. Well, I don't mind waiting. You'll find I'm a great girl!" Before Weiss could respond this time with a curt disagreement though, Maria pointed at the game window in front of her with the marriage choices. "Oh, is this one of the game windows you've been talking about?"

Does this mean Maria now understands that she lives in a game? What should I do? Weiss carefully watched her expressions. Did she understand what we were doing the whole time? How does the time skips work with her?

"How does it work?" Maria asked, with big, round sparkly eyes.

Weiss sighed once more. She felt the onset of a headache. "You select an option out of the two."

"Oh!" Maria pointed at one of them. "So you just click this, and something happens?"

The 'Yes' option gave the selection feedback sound.

Weiss groaned, closing her eyes.

When she opened them, she found herself in the middle of a wedding. She was wearing a tux, a well fitting and quite expensive one. On her right, it was Maria in a wedding gown. A look around told her that it was a small ceremony, with a simple, yet elegant decor. One that Weiss herself found to her tastes, much to her mild horror.

"Sorry, I didn't think it would do that!" Maria profusely apologized. "I wouldn't ever do something against your wishes, believe me!"

"Even your stupidity is the same…" Weiss pinched the rim of her nose.

[Eden of Lilies Ending]

[Secret Ending Found!]

[Congrats!]

What the Hell just happened.

/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/

Jaune moaned in pain. A lot of places hurt, from a throbbing thigh to burning sensations on his arms. All he could see was darkness, yet there was an odd sway, the kind he thought was similar to being piggybacked by a man with a limp. He also found that he couldn't move.

Am I kidnapped?!

Slowly, his vision returned to him. Once he could make out what he could see, he gasped - though his mouth did not move and no sound came out of him.

It was a wasteland.

Ruins of buildings lay as far as he could see, all the way to the toppled walls in the horizon. They looked like they were flattened, as a fist from heaven crushed everything underneath its divine might.

Jaune tried looking around, and to stop the swaying, but he couldn't move at all. This familiar feeling… Ah! A cutscene, he recognized.

As he watched himself move, whoever he was, he took notice of certain details in the environment. First of all, the greenery seemed mostly there. Trees were still standing in the distance, and even grass was still growing in organized patches. Second of all, Jaune didn't see any bodies. There was just… dust. Lots of dust. Multicolored dust, in fact. On the ground, in the air. Jaune hoped the character he was following had a mask on - those looked cancerous.

The character he was following gave large heaves with every step, and Jaune could feel the burn in every of his muscles. There was also something in their right hand, but the character's vision did not show what it was yet.

Finally, they arrived in front of a metal bench. There were three items atop, but Jaune's character first collapsed to a kneeling position beside a nearby puddle and heaved. Jaune instantly recognized his own face in the water's reflection. Far older. Far more worn. And far more scarred, in a very familiar way.

Well, that's the third me today. And sheesh, you look like you haven't had a shave in years!

Having caught his breath, he turned his attention to the three items on the bench and tossed in the final one that was in his hand.

A crown. A lamp. A staff. A sword.

Jaune recognized the crown from the boss battle with Salem. He was well prepared for it to have come back, having recognized the significance of the 'relic' from then. What he was unprepared for, was for his character to throw his head back and scream with everything he had.

"Come back here, you cowards!" Jaune felt the rawness of his throat. "You think you can just leave me here?! Leave me here, alone?!"

There was no response, nor echo to his voice. Just a cold, emptiness, and the whispers from the wind.

His character roared in rage. He stood up and smashed his fist into the bench, sending it careening into a wall. The items clattered to the ground, rolling and forgotten like litter.

"You think this is funny?!" He stabbed a finger at the sky. "Fuck you, you shitty gods! Fuck you! Fuck you!"

The man screamed and screamed, his madness seemingly unending. Jaune watched as his other self yelled his voice hoarse, all while exerting all his anger into physical violence. It took a long time for the man to finally collapse into the puddle, spent.

Jaune felt something tear through his back.

With a gurgle, he looked down. A spear tip extended from it.

Oh fuck! Jaune thought. He tried to grab at it instinctively, but his other self seemed to barely care. With one swift motion, instead, he tore it out through the front of his chest, causing an incredible amount of damage to himself. Jaune wished he could stop feeling it, or at the very least, stop looking at it, because it made him a little sick.

This meant that he was also watching as the chest wound healed in front of him as if nothing happened.

"Yeah, fuck you, too." His voice had healed up too.

He tossed the spear away. It looked like it was part of a bigger weapon, and had several transforming parts.

"Shit." The man stayed like that, staring at the sky, laying in a puddle now stained red by his blood. His deep, aggressive breaths slowed down over time, letting him take in the calmness of the apocalypse.

"Out of everyone… Why me?" Finally came out. Thick with resignation.

Jaune waited as his other self did nothing but lay there, being not privy to his thoughts. He wondered what this cutscene meant. It clearly seemed like a different cycle, and the gods must have screwed him over. But this amount of rage… It was exactly what Jaune feared. The gods must have done something terrible before… and could do something just as terrible now.

He was distracted by his considerations as his other self started moving. He raised his arm by a smidge, raising it above the water level. Jaune hyper focused on it, having nothing to do. His other self turned his head to face the spear he had chucked… and finger gunned.

"Pew… Pew."

Of damn course I'm doing this at the end of the world!

And because of that thought, they were both surprised when a blackened yellow beam shot from his hand and encircled the spear. Before either of them could react, the spear was pulled towards them as if it was magnetized. It stabbed deep into the ground, right beside their head.

There was silence.

Shit. I did not want to experience that.

His other self, however, started laughing. "You left me with magic? You utter fool." He sat up. Water poured down his body, cascading off him as he looked at his hands. The fingers were rough and calloused from years of work. "I am nothing like Salem. Be it a million years, be it a billion Cycles, be it eons… I will not stop." He sat slowly, rising as the wind picked up, making his clothing flutter in the multicolored dust cloud.

Jaune saw a glimpse of sickening yellow energy forming around himself before he closed his eyes, concentrating. It reminded Jaune of the feeling of lying down in a turbulent river, except the water had been replaced with something thicker and coarser. "I am no longer the foolish child who entered a prestigious school with a grandiose goal and zero-intention to follow through, God of Light. I have changed, I have morphed…"

His eyes opened once more, now glowing with power - enough that Jaune's vision was now tinted dark yellow. "I will take responsibility for my failures. And so…"

Jaune felt his other self smile. But it didn't stop there. His face stretched and twisted, until an ugly, warped grin distorted his face.

"You know that I will never stop until we are even."

Oh. Jaune thought. Oh, some things are making a bit more sense.

/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/

A/N (20240107): Wow, what a journey! Finally got to write this scene, that answers much of the weird stuff that was going on!

Next chapter (and last chapter before hiatus): February 11, 2024

Unfortunately, I'm still not out of the woods yet - I'm still pretty busy.