In this world, huntsmen are the closest thing to heroes. Saviors who battle back the vicious grimm and save countless. But what if… just what if there was something beyond a hero?
"Hero hero hero! I'm gonna be the greatest hero!" A young boy sang as he walked through a forest around his hometown. "Just wait Grandpa! I'm gonna go beyond a huntsmen and become something amazing!" The young boy said as he trekked on.
The boy, however… didn't get much farther before he heard a sound of a stick snapping. His head quickly turned in that direction and his face paled as his eyes went wide. Hulking and powerful, standing far above his tiny stature with rows and rows of dagger-like fangs and red eyes the only thing standing out from its pitch-black skin.
The boy fell backward as tears filled his vision. "N-no… why are you here?" He said, fearfully before he heard a small growl and turned to see more coming out towards him. All tall and ferocious, ready to kill. The Beowolves crouched and got ready to pounce… ready to tear the boy limb from limb.
"Grandpa… Dad… anybody…" The boy said in pure fear as tears burst from his eyes. "SOMEBODY SAVE ME!" He cried as the first one pounced… and its head was cut clean off.
The boy's eyes opened as he saw a figure standing tall in a black cloak with purple accents. He turned to the boy with his red eyes and black hair. "Young one. Be not afraid… I am here to save you." He spoke before drawing his blade. A long Katana melted into his hands and he raised it before slicing the heads off two of the beowolves in one go.
Two more jumped from behind and the man disappeared from the scene before appearing behind the two beowolves and they split in half. The last four seemed to try to back away as the man glared at them. "Cowardly beasts! Prepare to be finished!" He cried before he blitzed past them again and all four blew apart.
His blade then melted away as he turned to the young boy who stared in awe. "Who are you?" He asked as the man smirked. "I am…" He paused before looking at the boy again. "Nothing important. But I will ask, What were you doing out here?" He asked as the boy stood up and looked down. "I- I want to be a hero… like my grandpa and dad…" He spoke as the man sighed. "Why not just wait to become a huntsman?" He asked. "Because! I… I want to become something more than a huntsman! I want to be the greatest hero!" The young boy cried.
A smirk went on the red-eyed man's face. "How interesting!" He said as his cloak melted off his body and went into his clothes like a slime. His regular clothes were a button-up black shirt with navy blue jeans and blue sneakers. "So you wish to become something beyond a hero… What if I told you I could help you with that?" He asked as the boy looked up. "Seriously?! You could do that?!" He asked with his eyes sparkling.
"Yes! I can bring you into a world beyond that. I can help you become something more than a huntsman… more than a hero… to become a king!" The raven-haired man cried as the boy absorbed all the information. "Really?!" He said. The man nodded. "Yes indeed! I can help you go beyond… to become… The Eminence in The Shadows!" The man said as the boy looked at him. "What's that?" He asked. The man smirked…
How the hell did he convince this kid?
The man didn't expect to have to explain this far. Becoming a king was cool enough dammit. He had to find out how to dress this up…
"The Eminence in Shadow is someone destined to fight an evil group known as the cult of diablos." The man said as the boy looked up at him in awe. "This cult must be defeated. They have kept a secret of the demon whose power they wish to claim, having cursed women all over Remnant! These women are connected to the original 3 heroes, Oliver, Lili, and Freya!" He cried and the boy's eyes widened.
Should be a good way for the kid to explore around Remnant.
"So I would have to help those girls?" The boy asked as the man nodded. "You must cure them through something long since lost to man…" The man then opened his palm and purple flames danced within them. "This so no semblance boy. This… is magic!" He said with a smirk as the boy stared at it.
"I will train you in its usage and increase your abilities beyond what you know. Then you will earn the slime." He said as slime melted out of his body and into his hands, absorbing the flames.
"This slime is a pathetic Grimm that lives in caves for the most part and is barely a threat to humans. So as a result I can use magic to force it to bow to me. And luckily enough it has a 99% conductive rate with magic. Meaning I can mold it in any way I please and even use my magic through it." The man explained.
The man turned back to the boy. "Now… hearing all of that… are you sure you wish to walk the path of the Eminence in Shadow?"
The young boy seemed to ponder what to do. He didn't understand all of it but he did understand he had to become a hero that could save girls from some kind of sickness. What kind of hero would he be if he knew girls around the world were hurting and he didn't do anything about it!? His grandpa and dad would!
The boy stood up, his blue eyes filled with determination as the red-eyed man's grin split across his face. "I'm ready! I want to become beyond a hero! I want to be the emo… emi… emur… the shadow thing!" The boy said as the man laughed. "Excellent! You will become my protege and I will guide you to becoming the Eminence in Shadow!"
The slime once again molded over the main, becoming his pitch-black cloak with purple accents and a back bodysuit underneath.
"Now you will address me as "master " that is the only name you will need to know for me." The man spoke as the young boy nodded. "Okay… Master."
Master turned back to the boy. "Now for your name." He said as the boy jumped. "Oh yeah… I'm Jaune… Jaune Arc." He said as Master nodded. "Well, then Jaune. I will return you to your home. But starting tomorrow you will train alongside me to become a proper vessel for the title The Eminence in Shadow." Master spoke and Jaune nodded hurriedly. "Yes, Master!" He cried as the older man chuckled.
"Well then… let us begin our training soon," Master said with a glint in his red eyes.
Master had to give credit where it was due. The kid was a fast learner who improved at a rapid pace. He started with unlocking Jaune's aura which alone could've spelled his end. But the boy pushed passed it and DEAR GODS his amount was ridiculous! His aura supply was well past 10x the average huntsman. It was like he was MADE to become the Eminence in Shadow. But that was just the beginning. Even with such a large aura supply, it was only correct that he had to learn proper aura control.
The boy started out struggling as Master noticed Jaune seemed to struggle with the aspects of using his aura for strengthening attacks. Defensively he was mostly fine. He learned the second nature of activating aura to avoid fatal blows quickly… Learning how to minimize the aura needed to take a hit was a different beast.
Master continued to coach him on aura control until the boy came up with something strange. For most people, they would spread their aura around their body and then focus that aura on one part of their body. Others would send the aura straight to that body part but it was a higher level technique that usually only the most experienced huntsman(and Master himself of course) could use but Jaune did neither. Instead, he used a technique Master first showed him of putting his aura into his finger as one point.
The use of this technique was to find weak points in boulders and shatter them with one finger but Jaune used it to focus from his finger into other parts of his hand before using it over his entire arm.
From here he learned other techniques and even mastered his own… THROUGH HIS TOES AS WELL. Master was flabbergasted at the boy's sheer creativity. Teaching a 6-year-old sounded difficult but he wanted to train him from childhood and it might've been working. Maybe the creativity of a child and how fast they could pick things up gave Jaune an advantage.
Over the year Master leveled up Jaune's physical capabilities and aura control whilst also teaching him special aura techniques such as hypervision. An ability to "see smarter" as Master put it. Giving Jaune the ability to see nearly everything at once and react to things almost as if he could read situations before they happened. It also allowed him to see weak points in structures and even openings in people while fighting.
Master stood 30 meters away from Jaune as the boy crouched down. "Now Jaune I have these 10 boulders and I will throw them at you. You are to apply everything you've learned from my training to either dodge or destroy these boulders!" Master shouted as Jaune nodded. "Alright, master!" The 7-year-old said before he pumped aura into his legs and shot forward, covering 10 meters in just over a second.
Master smirked before he used magic to send the boulders into the air before chucking them at Jaune.
Jaune's eyes had lines go from his pupil to the edge of his eye before a circle came around his pupil as well. He quickly dodged to the left from the first boulder before rushing under the next.
Two more came at him but he jumped clean over both of them by pumping more aura into his legs. Master grinned before flinging four more boulders. "Was jumping a wise choice, my student?!" He shouted as the boulders came at Jaune. "Yes, Master! I can see everything!" Jaune called back. That's right! He saw everything! The structure weaknesses of the boulders, their trajectory, and the speed of their movements. He knew everything and how to get past them.
Jaune narrowly dodged the first boulder before pushing off the second and using that momentum to get over the third. When the fourth was coming at him Jaune focused on a weak point and pumped his aura into his finger before pressing it against the boulder…
And smashing it to pieces.
Jaune kept going and landed before he immediately started running. Master smirked again and lifted the other two boulders. Jaune was ready to dodge before Master fused the boulders and launched the giant rock at him. "Now Jaune how will you dodge?!" Master asked as Jaune smirked. "Dodge? No chance Master!" Jaune then pumped aura into his legs and shot directly at the boulder before sending that aura into his arm and pulling back before slamming his tiny fist into the boulder… and clearing straight through it.
Jaune tumbled and rolled before landing at Master's feet. "D- did I do good Master?" Jaune asked while breathing heavily. That much aura and hypervision usage took a lot out of someone.
"You did better than good, it was excellent!" Master praised.
Almost beyond excellent to be honest. Jaune had managed to do something that was on the level of huntsman academy students at only seven. Master was beyond impressed with his student. He had truly found someone worthy of becoming The Eminence in Shadow.
But there was definitely work left to do. Jaune's stamina needed to be increased drastically from where it was currently. He was a child so it was fair for his stamina to be relatively low but it absolutely needed to be significantly higher for him to fully use the power of the slime and the nuclear magic that they were training his aura control for. Currently, Jaune was nowhere near able to use the magic, let alone the slime yet.
"So Master, can I get taught magic yet?"
And there it was
"Unfortunately not yet Jaune. To gain the ability to use magic and especially nuclear magic you will need more training." Master said as Jaune slumped. Master felt bad but even he knew Jaune would need at least four to five more years before he was able to even think about getting the slime.
Over the next two years, Master would enhance more things about Jaune's abilities. His aura control increased even further while also focusing on Jaune's defense by increasing the levels of durability his aura offered while making it so he used less for said quality. They also worked on his body more as well, giving him quite the muscular body for a 9-year-old. By complete accident, they had also discovered his semblance. The boy's ability to amplify aura was something beyond Master's expectations. He was hoping for a more epic and powerful semblance but this more supportive and healing-focused semblance was special. When Master first experienced the boosting power he was more than okay with such a semblance.
The duo had also shared stories. Master telling more of his BS about the Cult of Diablos. Every time he did this he feared for the day Jaune eventually found out he was lying. Well, he'd be long gone by that point so it should be fine. Jaune told him of his home life, how he had 7 sisters(Master assumed his father must've been a walking baby-making machine to have fathered 8 kids), and how his grandpa was teaching him chess and Master even challenged him before being defeated by the 9-year-old… that was embarrassing beyond belief.
Jaune's grandfather and father gave him his dreams of becoming a hero that sparked the meeting between Master and Jaune. Jaune was grateful for the opportunity that Master gave him to meet his dreams and exceed them. He went from a boy who was nearly killed by a Grimm to… well maybe someone who could kill a Grimm. He and Master had never taken him to fight an actual Grimm before. Until today.
Master and Jaune had ended up on an Island Jaune wasn't aware of and were traveling for a bit before Jaune spoke up. "Hey, Master… what are we doing here?" The boy asked. "Training. I wish to give you your first taste of a Grimm fight." Master said before throwing a short sword at Jaune who caught it and gazed at it with amazed eyes. "No wayyyy my first weapon!" Jaune cried with elation.
Master smirked as he shook his head before he shot up and turned to see something. Jaune picked up on it and looked directly at what his master was looking at but couldn't see anything.
Jaune then activated hypervision and looked and saw two girls walking together. One was blond and looked around his age while the other had black and red hair. "What are they doing?" Jaune said as Master shrugged. "No clue…" Master turned back and his eyes widened as he saw the girls shirk away before an ursa burst out and growled at the pair.
"Oh no! Master, we have to do something!" Jaune said frantically as his master crossed his arms. "No…we aren't doing anything," Master said as Jaune's eyes went wide. "Huh?! What do you mean?! Aren't we heroes?!" Jaune demanded as his master's red eyes turned to him. "Yes we are… but I won't be doing anything…." Master pointed at Jaune. "You will."
Jaune was shocked before he shook his head. It was his time. Time to prove he's a hero! Jaune prepared to rush out but was blocked by Master. You can't show your face yet. Lest they find out who you are before you even become Shadow. You must also give them a false identity."
Now Jaune had to figure out how to save the girls whilst also not giving himself away AND he had to make a disguise. He felt a crunch in his pocket and immediately knew what to do.
The girls backed up as the Ursa growled at them. "Y-yang I'm scared…" The smaller one said as her older sister blocked her from the ursa. "It's okay Rubes… I-I can protect you…" Yang said as her voice broke.
The ursa growled before launching at the girls, practically salivating at their fear but before its claws could rip the blond apart Ruby pushed her aside. "RUBY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Yang screeched but right as the 7-year-old was going to be removed from Remnant's census its claw was sliced clean off.
A young boy appeared before them with a paper bag over his head. He turned to them, only his blue eyes showing while the top of his bag read ʎɐpsǝn┴. "Are you ladies okay?" He asked before turning back to the ursa.
"I must've sounded so cool!" Jaune said as he turned to the ursa. The beast roared at him and rushed him again and Jaune pumped aura into his legs and shot directly at the ursa and switched his aura to his arms and sliced through the ursa.
And threw his sword and caused it to imbed itself into a tree.
Jaune turned to his sword before falling on his knees. "I MUST'VE LOOKED SO UNCOOL!" He cried in his mind before he remembered who he was trying to look cool in front of. The girls looked at him in a mix of shock and awe. "No need for thanks. It was all in a day's work." Jaune spoke as the younger girl walked forward. "Ruby…" Yang said as she put her arm out weakly.
"Are you… a hero?" Ruby asked as Jaune smirked under his paper bag. "Why yes! I am the legendary hero known as… The Dark Flame Master." Jaune said dramatically as both girls' eyes sparkled. "Really?!" Ruby asked as Jaune nodded. He couldn't reveal his identity nor could he call himself The Eminence in Shadow as his training was still in progress so this name was the next best thing. He did notice though that Ruby's ears were slightly pointed. Elves were one of Remnant's three races alongside the humans and the faunus. Elves were discriminated against less than the faunus but did face a bit. All Elves traditionally being beautiful and sought-after women may have had something to do with that.
Suddenly a man dropped behind them and ran at the trio. "Kiddos you alright?!" He asked as Ruby and Yang turned to him. "Uncle Qrow!" They cried as they hugged the man. "I heard you scream what happened?" Qrow asked as Yang and Ruby looked up at him and tears burst from the girl's eyes. Qrow sighed before patting their heads. "Okay, kiddos. It's alright I'm here." He said before looking at Jaune.
"And what the hell are you supposed to be," Qrow asked as Jaune perked up. "I'm-" He was cut off by Yang speaking up. "He saved us." She said through her tears as Qrow raised an eyebrow.
"That so…?" Qrow said as Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, a large Grimm came at them so I got rid of it with that sword," Jaune explained, pointing at the sword in the tree.
"Well then I've got you to thank for saving my nieces so…" Qrow then finally realized… that… that was a fucking kid.
How the hell did a kid save his nieces?! Something wasn't right. Not to mention the stupid bag on his head. "Okay kid… who are you?" Qrow asked as Jaune went into a pose. "The Dark Flame Master!" Jaune said as Qrow's eyes narrowed. Okay, something really was up. His hand went on Harbinger as he got ready to question the kid some more.
But then something appeared in the corner of his eye and he jumped back as a man shot down and landed between him and Jaune. Master rose up and grinned as he looked at Qrow.
"Ah, Master!" Jaune spoke as Master turned and nodded at him. "You did well, my protege." Master spoke as Jaune preened from the praise.
"Okay, so who the hell are you?!" Qrow asked as he pushed Ruby and Yang behind. Master smirked. "My name is unnecessary." He spoke.
Now Qrow was getting pissed off. First, this random kid says he saved his nieces despite being around the same age as Yang if he was going height-wise. Then this man shows up and neither wants to give out a name.
"Okay listen, buddy. Your "protege" claims to have saved my nieces but I'm having a hard time believing a runt like that is taking out Grimm." Qrow started as Master smirked. "My protege is very powerful. He's been training under me for quite a while now." Master spoke as Qrow glared at him.
"So he has been now…" Qrow said. Nothing about this guy's story was making sense. Not to mention he was being cryptic about every little thing. This guy was sending off all kinds of warning bells. Qrow either had to get his nieces away from this guy or kick his ass and interrogate him… or he could do both.
Qrow turned to his nieces. "Get back." That was all he said as the girl nodded and backed away. Qrow then drew his sword and glared at the man. Master nodded to Jaune. "You should stand back as well. But also watch closely." Jaune obeyed and moved back before activating hypervision.
Master's slime molded down and formed his jet-black katana and he and Qrow looked at each other… before rushing at each other and trading blows.
If Jaune didn't have hypervision active he may not have been able to even see them rush each other. He'd never seen Master fight anyone so this was an entirely new experience for him. The two swordsmen clashed blades as neither were giving an inch. Eventually, they arrived in a deadlock where Master spoke. "Our hair and eye color are practically the same. Maybe we should partner up?" Master said with a grin as Qrow glared. "Had a partner years ago. He's like a brother to me already and is my brother-in-law so I'm gonna say no thanks, pal." Qrow then broke the deadlock before making an overhead slash that Master sidestepped before making a horizontal slash that Qrow parried before they clashed once more. The two then separated before Qrow rushed at him low and sliced in an upward slash that Master leaned back against before backflipping out of the way.
Qrow followed it up with another slash as Master parried it and then went to stab Qrow as the man dodged before using Harbinger to swipe at Master's leg but Master jumped over the strike and used his own overhead strike at Qrow's head that was parried away.
Jaune was in awe. These were fighters! The way they moved and how perfect their movements were. Nothing was wasted in this fight. But there was something else… something even he noticed.
"Kick his butt Uncle Qrow!" Yang cheered. "Yeah! You got it!" Ruby said alongside her. But Jaune noticed… neither of them was giving it their all.
Despite how great the movements were and how much the two were evenly matched neither was truly going all out. No openings forced harshly, no sudden blindsides. They were holding back in some way. Jaune then realized. It was because of them. With the trio around these two weren't letting loose.
The two men separated once again from a deadlock. "Well, it appears we are at an impasse. Truce?" Master asked as Qrow glared. "What?" He asked harshly. "I will leave and you can take those children back to their parents. Me and my protege need to head back to his parents anyway." Master said as Qrow sighed. "Just get out of here." He said as Master smirked before his cloak grew out and surrounded him and Jaune and spun around like a tornado before they completely disappeared.
"Bye bye, Dark Flame Master…" Ruby said as Qrow petted the top of her head. "I wouldn't think too much about those two kiddo…" He said before turning to where they were. Just who the hell were those two?
Jaune and Master were back on the hill from before as Master looked at Jaune. "You have officially moved forward in your quest to become The Eminence in Shadow. However, your swordplay is lacking." Master pointed out as Jaune sighed. Couldn't argue with that one. "But overall I believe we no longer need to continue your aura training. I believe your aura control has been perfected. We will continue to keep up your physical regime to keep your body as a perfect vessel but… we will be moving to magic and swordplay from here on out." Master said as Jaune beamed. Finally! He was gonna learn magic and swordsmanship. "We still have to get you home so let's start there," Master said.
Sure enough, he did get home without a problem. Hell, Master did it so fast that no one even had time to worry about where the hell he had been.
The next 4 years went as promised. Jaune was taught in the ways of multiple sword techniques. The basics in the most streamlined way, a unique style built on flamboyance and flare, and a style built on completely overwhelming the opponents. He was also taught mixed martial arts and learned tons of magic. Using the teachings to focus on one point he was also taught nuclear magic and had learned a beyond-powerful technique that could wipe out a city if he really wanted to.
He had also learned healing magic and other forms of magic he could pair with his semblance and aura to increase his strength and speed tenfold.
Jaune and Master stood over a hill looking for a Mistralian city. "So Master… what's next for my training?" The 13-year-old asked as his master smirked. "Nothing. Your training is complete. You have now gained this right." The man then slid the slime out of his body into a ball. He then pushed his hand towards Jaune.
"Take it… the slime is yours," Master said as Jaune walked towards him and reached out his hand and grabbed the slime ball. "Now use your magic to force the slime to be yours," Master said as Jaune took a deep breath before closing his eyes and pumping his magic into the ball. The ball contorted before Jaune absorbed it into his skin. "So… I have the slime now?" Jaune asked as his master nodded. "Due to its 99% magic compatibility, you can manipulate it in any way. Even as clothes." Master said as Jaune nodded.
The slime then molded over his body forming a pitch-black bodysuit with purple accents. Black pants with purple lines running diagonally up and a solid black shirt with black boots with gold trim on them that reach just above shin height. He then gained a long dark hooded coat with purple accents and gold trim as the slime molded over his hair turning it pitch black with more purple accents and his eyes had magic done to them to change his eyes from blue to a bright gold. The hood cast a shadow over his face leaving nothing but his mouth and gleaming gold eyes to be shown.
"Marvelous my student," Master said as Jaune turned to him. "You truly have become everything I imagined you could." He said with pride as Jaune looked up at him before opening his mouth.
"I am Shadow! I am he who hunts in the shadows. He who hunts the shadows. I am the ultimate enemy of the Cult of Diablos and will take them down!" Shadow said as Master smirked. "Excellent." He said, noticing how Jaune had deepened his voice. However…
Master couldn't believe he still believed that Bullshit.
"Well too bad I won't be able to see everything you do. Without the slime, my life won't last for much longer. I'm happy to have created someone who can follow my wishes and truly become The Eminence in Shadow. Thank you, my student… and farewell." Master said as Shadow turned to him and nodded as the man walked away.
"Thank you… Master…" Jaune said before turning to the city. He had work to do. Now that he had achieved the power necessary he needed to get to work quickly. He had to find girls cursed with demonic possession and cure them.
With that Shadow took a step… and in that very second was already across the city.
Jaune spent quite some time looking for anything to do with demonic possession. Unfortunately, he wasn't very lucky with finding anything to do with demonic possession or the Cult of Diablos. Could Master have lied to him? No way Master never did and had to reason to.
And he never did indeed as Jaune would come across a group of guys with a van driving something around. They eventually stopped and met up with six more guys and Jaune listened in. "Trust me man whatever that thing is will make us money! The guys who want this seem to be willing to offer anything!" A man said as another taller man nodded. "Alright. Whatever that shit is seems dangerous though. It keeps sparking and moving. Feels like the weirdos who want the damn thing are a cult or something." That got Jaune's attention. "A cult? Sounds like whatever they're talking about might be demonic possession." Jaune decided it was worth a shot and jumped from his hiding spot.
The men got ready to leave but then Shadow dropped in the middle of them. His gold eyes scanned everyone. "Who the fuck is that?!" One of the men cried as Shadow turned to him. "I am Shadow! I am he hunts in the shadows! He who hunts the shadows!" Shadow introduced as the men pulled out their guns. "Alright, fucker what do you want?" The tall man that Shadow presumed the leader said.
"I want to know what's in the van," Shadow said as the man glared. "None of your fucking business! Unless you're paying." The leader said as Shadow glared at him. "Payment wasn't on my mind. But if I need to I will use force to get it." Shadow spoke and the man glared hard before getting ready to pull the trigger. But before that Shadow had already rushed past him.
The man's body then split in half and the men all looked in shock. Shadow didn't prefer killing but Master had drilled it into that sometimes killing would be necessary. "B-boss?!" One of the men cried as Shadow turned to them.
"Now… What is in the van?" Shadow asked as the men trembled. "We don't know it's some kind of blob. Some random guys asked for it! We truly don't know!" One of them cried as Shadow walked over to the van before ripping off the doors and his gold eyes widened as he looked inside. It was a giant blob that was purple, fleshing, with blue eyes and a large mouth, and was sparking with purple energy. This was it. It simply had to be. This is what demonic corruption looked like.
"I will be taking this. Any objections?" Shadow asked as his golden irises scanned the men. None spoke against him. He then used magic to bring the giant blob with him.
Shadow eventually found a shack to plop the blob down and turned back into Jaune as he looked at the giant thing. "Great… now to find a way to reverse this…" Jaune said as slumped down before a lightbulb went off over his head and he pounded his fist into his hand.
He then focused his magic and mixed it with his semblance before blasting the blob. It showed a clear reaction before calming down and shrinking. Jaune threw his hands in the air. "Yessir! I figured it out! All I have to do is keep blasting it with my magic while giving it aura and that should stabilize it enough. I'm a genius!" Jaune praised himself as he kept blasting it until his aura got low then charged up his aura before blasting it again.
Jaune did this for hours on end before finally after one more blast… the blob turned into a young blond-haired elf girl around his age.
The girl fell and Jaune turned beat red as he realized the girl was naked. "WHY IS SHE NAKED WAS THAT NECESSARY UNIVERSE?" Jaune cried in his mind before he used magic to stabilize his emotions as he noticed the girl stirring. He quickly debated between meeting her as Jaune or Shadow but realized she should probably meet her as his regular self.
"W-where am I?" The girl asked as Jaune looked down at her. She noticed him and sat up. "Who are you?" She said and Jaune put his hand on his chin. "My name is Jaune Arc and I saved you. You were possessed by something called demon possession. Due to your connection to your ancestor Oliver the Elf Hero." He explained as the girl absorbed the information.
"So you saved me…" She said as Jaune nodded. "I want to save everyone currently suffering from the demon possession that a cult is covering up to gain power and immortality from the very same demon that gave this curse. I am The Eminence in Shadow or just Shadow and I wish to stop this cult in its tracks." Jaune said.
The girl then bowed before him as Jaune perked up. "If you saved me then I thank you deeply. I will dedicate my life not only to you… but to the goal of destroying the Cult you named and freeing others of the same demon possession that nearly ended my life." The girl said as Jaune smiled.
He walked over to her and knelt. "Then join me… join me and form an elite group capable of destroying the Cult of Diablos easily," Jaune said as the girl looked up at him and nodded. "This group I hope to create is Shadow Garden and I want you to be the first member other than myself. And I'd like to give you a new name as a member." Jaune said as the girl nodded. "Yes, Lord Shadow. I will serve you in taking this cult down permanently." The girl said as Jaune smiled.
Lord Shadow… yeah he liked the sound of that. Truly sounded awesome.
"Your name… shall be Alpha. My second in command and first Shadow Garden member." Jaune said as the newly renamed Alpha smiled. "Yes, Lord Shadow." She said as Jaune smiled.
From there Jaune would teach her combat and swordsmanship like his master did for him. She already had an amazing level of magic capabilities due to her elf heritage so teaching her all of this and how to use the slime was easy. She picked up things easily as well. From there they gained six more members.
Beta, a beautiful elf girl
Gamma, a gorgeous young elf woman
Delta, A feisty young wolf faunus
Epsilon, A cute elf girl
Zeta, A tall golden panther faunus
Eta, a beautiful elf
Jaune had gathered these members by curing the demon possession from each girl. It became even easier after teaching Alpha the ways of curing as well. He then taught the others similarly to how he trained Alpha. In just three years he had created a super-powerful force that was nigh-unbeatable by anyone other than himself. His magic had seen severe increases as a result of curing the girls.
Eventually, everyone met at an empty field. "Uhm Boss what's this about?" Delta asked as Jaune turned to her. "Everyone, I have been thinking. Shadow Garden may need expansion and this… is how I plan to do it. This is an old military base and I removed everything from it. You are welcome to use this to recruit other members and build up our organization. I trust you all to be able to do so." Jaune said as the girls bowed. "Yes, Lord Shadow. I promise to make Shadow Garden into a force capable of bringing even Atlas to its knees." Alpha said with a smile as Jaune smiled back. He then had the slime mold over him similar to his subordinates wearing their uniforms currently.
"I will take my leave now. Shadow Garden will continue to grow… and The Cult of Diablos will fall!" Shadow said as the Seven Shadows nodded.
Everyone shot off in their own directions as the plan was in action. The Cult of Diablos would have something new to challenge it.
Two years later Jaune got out of the shower and put on his uniform consisting of a white blazer over a black button-up with a blue tie black slacks and black dress shoes.
He took the elevator down before getting in a taxi and heading to school. He was just about to enter the doors when he heard his name called and turned to see who called it and smiled and waved back.
"Hey, man you weren't gonna enter without us right?" A young man with black hair and green eyes said as he walked up to Jaune. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't Nate," Jaune replied. The boy next to Jaune was Nathan Pucol Camorol. "Hey guys!" A skinny tall guy with messy red hair and blue eyes said as he caught up with them. "Hey, Lain." They said in unison as he stood next to the duo. This was Lain Amel Meriadel-Eylud. Jaune walked into Vale University with his chosen friends as they got ready for another day of college. After all, Jaune Arc was just a regular mob.
So… I finally wrote this… that was… a writing adventure. I went through like 5 different ways to write this. At first, the story was mostly the same but I had Ruby as the first member of Shadow Garden and they were named after planets and Jaune went to Beacon. I eventually stopped that because I didn't want to fall into canon and stifle my creativity. Then I did one where Jaune got kicked out of Beacon(to keep the parody idea) but that required me to make everything(Jaune meeting Master, Jaune getting Shadow Garden and a whole bunch of other stuff happen in less than a year and even for a parody that's pushing it. So I came up with the same original draft but Jaune gets normal Shadow Garden and instead never goes to Beacon and goes to a regular school as a mob.
Sorry if this seems rushed. I didn't want to go through every little thing of training or meeting members of Shadow Garden in the prologue since this is already the longest chapter I've ever written… Which I said about a previous thing I wrote a month ago… I do want to write about Jaune's training with Master which was never seen throughout this chapter in either omakes or a progressive style sister series that covers those things alongside things like meeting the SG members.
Also a few things.
Master is not Cid he's a completely made-up character that has no real purpose besides helping Jaune become Shadow
If I get far enough into this I want to write a few RWBY characters into Shadow Garden
I'm gonna go more into the mob stuff as time goes on.
Jaune is different from Cid in many ways but the biggest is that he's mostly aware of what's going on rather than believing the entire world is in on his fantasy(It is the reason Cid is so great but I think this works better for Jaune)
Pay some attention to Jaune's friends' names lmao
Hope you guys Enjoyed R/R and have a good one GOOODBYEEE(Dear god I am tired after writing this lmfao)