The Arcane Craftsman

by The White Wulf

The class system was rigid. Everyone has a role. A hero fights, a noble leads, and the laborers work. But there existed a class above all others. Since the dawn of history the prestige class was filled with heroes, warriors of unparalleled might and exceptional growth. Until a laborer got stuck in a dungeon. Behold the Arcane Craftsman, the first prestige labor class.

6. Chapter 6

Updated February 2021

Chapter 6: Carry on my Wayward Guild.

Jaune stared at the giant bag that Weiss had Yang carry for her their entire walk here.

"…Is all that really necessary?"

Weiss shrugged.

"We have no idea what we'll find there, not to mention on the off chance that we actually manage to succeed we'll still need supplies."

"What you don't believe we'll win?" grinned Yang.

"Forgive me if I'm a little skeptical that we'll be able to figure out a mystery that no one else has over the last fifty years."

"Oh come it can't be that bad!" chuckled Nora.

"Our headmaster was one of the failures."

Everyone shut up at that.

"….well my confidence just died" grumbled Blake "If Ozpin couldn't do it, what makes you think we have the slightest chance of pulling it off?"

"time" mumbled Weiss "all spells, no matter their strength, are affected by time. Some degrade and others increase in strength, especially spells that remain after their caster has died or moved a large distance away. Most of it is circumstantial I'll admit, but what I've been hearing as pointed out that the potency of whatever magics have affected the guild house has waned over the years. It's all rumor obviously or Ozpin and the teachers would have settled the guild matter years ago. But…this is our one shot at sticking together…and I rather not miss it just because it sounded too hard."

"Well said" smiled Pyrrha "nothing stops us from retreating if things get too difficult."

"True" said Ren "not to mention that you said students have been farming this place for magical stones correct?"

Weiss nodded.

"Yes. They sell it to Vale to make extra cash. The stones help power the city after all so Vale offers a fair amount for them."

"Huh, so that's what they were used for" said Jaune "I always thought they were a crafting comp-"

Jaune gained a savage grin at the thought.

"….Ok I'm just gonna say it, that's creepy" muttered Yang.

Jaune lost his grin and rose an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

Yang gave a shaky smile in return.

"oh nothing. So…I'm guessing that's it?"

The group arrived at their destination just as the evening began to settle. The house was…well it was more a mansion than it was a damn house.

"Shit this place is huge!" yelled Nora "This is definitely not something we can scout out quickly."

"Perhaps not, but I doubt the entire building is stuffed with the undead."

"I regret coming here" said Yang plainly "I signed up to fight deadly monsters, not walking corpses. But it's this or be subjected to the weirdos, so let's do it!"

"I don't think the elder guilds are weird but I'm on board" said Ren "the question is how should we begin?"

Jaune shrugged.

"Walk through the main door?"

The mansion had a large set of doors situated in the middle, surrounded by destroyed and aged furniture that littered the front as a makeshift patio. It was obvious that the previous guild owners were obvious about sprouting their wealth. At least it seemed that way to Jaune. The entire thing was covered in vegetation. There was no way to tell if the house was framed by just wood or made with stone.

But the doors? Well the doors were hard to miss.

They were fucking gold after all.

"…We're not keeping that" muttered Ruby.

Everyone agreed immediately. It took a special kind of stupid to make a set of doors of pure gold. Jaune grimaced even further as he realized the doors were actually made of GOLD, not painted a certain color, not a certain special kind of shade, but literal gaudy gold.

….hell whoever owned this place probably deserved whatever happened. Talk about an oof.

"I'm surprised no one ripped it off and sold it yet" chuckled Blake.

"That would be because of me dearie."

"OH SHIT!" yelled Yang.

Before anyone could stop her, Yang's eyes glowed blue and her fist shot out at the source of the noise at her left, forcing Ren to duck and move out of the way. The air rippled from the force her fist exerted and a loud explosion echoed.

"…Well that was just rude. I was just trying to say hi. You're the first people I've gotten to talk to in over fifty years after all! Most of you just ignore me. Welcome, to the Phantom Guild House!"

Everyone finally noticed the tall figure that stood by the doors in an impeccable suit. It smiled at them pleasantly, his accent completely foreign to them and his tone light and amicable.

He was also entirely white, had blue markings all over his face, eeire black and blue eyes, and a pair of horns sticking out of his head like a ram.

"…..Ok first off what?"

"That's a summon" said Weiss in awe "a bonafide summon!"

"Oh that's cool" grumbled Yang "I'm here to fight the undead not demons!"

"You really don't do well with any spiritual entity do you?" asked Blake.

The demon in question just rose his eye. There was no hair for eyebrows for it, only the dark hair that decorated its head in a particular manner.

"Demon? My apologies but that's not…ahhh it's the horns isn't it. Its always the horns."

The horns shrunk into its head without missing a beat.

"My apologies my name is AEHSYRR BHWJKJW WUWYEYYS"

The words that escaped its mouth was incomprehensible. Much like Salem, the words above its head were also nothing but gibberish. The being before them sighed as they shook their head.

"Ah. Again my apologies, you corporeal flesh bags cannot understand my existence…well not yet anyway. But to assure the young woman before you, I am not in fact a mere demon!"

"Oh thank the gods" muttered Yang.

"I'm an Arch Demon of knowledge, my summoner referred to me simply as Maze."

Yang felt her soul leave her body. Blake rose an eyebrow. Weiss meanwhile was beaming at Maze. Her smile left her face quickly though.

"We have to fight you don't we?"

Maze smiled.

"Thankfully no. For the unfortunate parties that came before, I was indeed their enemy…although not of my will. The years have degraded the sigils and skills that bind me, as such I can simply remain out of your way, as a few students have noticed such as yourself. As such I have the freedom to simply stand."

Jaune noticed that the suit the demon wore now disappeared, replaced simply with a pair of pants and a rolled up dress shirt. Their bare arms revealing rows and rows of red ugly sigils, some of the wording and runic structure having gaps and holes within it, like corroding metal. Jaune's eyes glowed crimson as he read the sigils.

"Binding. Servitude. Restriction. Destruction. Direction. Resistance."

Jaune blinked as the rest of the runic structure came together in his head. Immediately Jaune scowled at what he saw. This thing was basically a Giess. The binding was obvious. Servitude another no brainer. The runic structure around Restriction was almost too much to count, but the words were…. brittle for the lack of a better term, unable to hold and exert the power they once could. Destruction was the annihilation of this being's soul if it went against its contract. Direction and resistance were one word in this case, confining the being to the building and grounds. There was much more to the contract, like sub clauses and fine print.

Jaune clicked his teeth in annoyance. It was too similar to what was used against his mother. It wasn't the same, far from it, but the spells binding maze was of the same category as the kind that bound his mother.

Maze blinked in surprise.

"Oh my, I didn't expect a runewright amongst your grouping! Why this is excellent, this will all-"

Maze stuttered as they watched their form slowly dematerialize.

"Oh bugger me" it muttered "it will be a time before I restructure myself again. The rune work on my body is a shit show right now. Alas woe is me. Before I fully disappear again allow me to leave you with some advice. Not like the contract can harm me further at this moment anyway. If you wish to obtain the guild house you must eliminate all the undead within this building. Be wary of them however, for they are not the undead you are accustomed to. If you can do that than wait for me again. DO NOT ENTER THE BASEMENT. Not before talking with me ag-"

Maze's words were cut off as their head disappeared. Yang blinked, looked around, and blinked again.

"…..ok second what the fuck" she muttered "and yes I totally stole that from Nora, no regrets."

The two high-fived with grins. But then Yang turned to Weiss and stared at her incredulously.

"Ok but seriously what the hell was that?"

"That was a demonic being" said Weiss.

"No shit I meant the whole summoning deal." grumbled Yang.

Weiss shook herself from her stupor.

"Right. It would seem that a Summoner class managed to get lucky and brought forth an incredible servant. What we saw was the main means of attack for the Summoner and Conjurer classes. They summon, create, and bind astral beings from beyond our world and through skills can enhance them to fight. But summons are tricky" explained Weiss "It's not unusual for the summoned to be many times greater than the summoner. If what Maze stated was truthful, then he is without a doubt a top tier summon…one that someone has bound to the mana and structure of the house, probably. Jaune…you could read the sigils on him?"

Jaune shrugged helplessly.

"Not really. I couldn't read those blue marking he had, but the red runes on his forearms…it was basically a magical contract…but it seemed like multiple skills overlapping each other to meet a require effect…each sequence was unique as if it was applied by a different person? It worked but it made the whole structure fragile…Its hard to explain" said Jaune "but each rune felt…like it was written in a different dialect."

"Probably joint casting" muttered Weiss "I've heard that certain skills and passives can synergize together for different effects, it's the basis for how most of our magic systems were made after all"

Jaune thought back to the train and nodded.

"…but why would this guild have wanted Maze bound…"

"Is it possible Maze is the reason this whole place is haunted?" asked Nora.

"I doubt it" muttered Pyrrha "if he wanted to kill us, why warn us of the basement?"

"Could just be a trick, like reverse psychology" said Ren.

"Ok that's it" muttered Yang.

"Wait Yang!"

The blonde ignored her sister as she stepped up to the doors and snap kicked them open. The force she used sent the dented doors flying of their hinges and into their respective walls.

"Seriously, we can speculate and guess all we want later" said Yang "for now I say lets clear this place. If we can't even handle the undead here, why bother trying to figure out Maze?"

Weiss smiled.

"A fair point. Let's find a place of rest before begin exploring the house."

"I say just right here"

"Sheesh, it is big enough isn't it?" asked Nora.

The Front foyer of the Phantom Guild house was undeniably wide and spacious, albiet only an 18 foot walk before the actual entrance of the place. It also had many eroded and broken paintings, furnishings, and plaques that held awards for people to see on either wall. The golden doors, the paintings and plaques…

"….so anybody else think they compensating for something?" asked Blake.

"Perhaps, but not like it matters" smirked Nora "We're gonna take this place for all its worth baby!"

Ren simply smiled and began to help Nora move all the garbage and debris. The set up was simple and efficient. They gathered a bunch of old wood and placed it in the center. They placed the two large bags at each end of their "camp" fire and began to remove the food and items that they brought, but mostly food and potions. Jaune inspect the potion.

Inspect: Red Potion (Rank C):

Imbued with the essence of healing and spirit, this red potion excels at replenishing health and healing small sickness. Tastes like vomit but it will keep you regular. Cannot regenerate lost limbs, organs, or heal in the case of deep critical wounds…which sucks.

Effect: heals 200 points of health. Side effects after multiple excessive consumption include vomiting, nausea, seeing "colors", horrid aftertaste, existential crises, lingering doubts, depression, questioning your reason for even bothering, itchy ass cheeks, and the constant lingering doubt that this is all nothing but a simulation written by some weird asshole living in his mother's basement.

Jaune blinked.

"….do….do any of you know the side effects for this potion?"

Weiss grimace.

"yes the horrid after tastes after drinking a few in one go is far from pleasant."

"That's not really what I meant?"

"ZOMBIE!"

Ruby had already disappeared, the doors leading to the house already long opened. The group rushed in but only arrived to see Ruby holding her scythe up, a zombie twitching from the blade as the young Reaper held her scythe aloft, body and all.

"EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW"

Ruby shook the corpse off her weapon. The burning Rose ignited in anger, the flames quickly eating away at the residue left on its blade.

"Don't worry, I'll give you a nice cleaning!"

The blade puffed in irritation.

"….what if Jaune did it?"

The blade roared in satisfaction with a plume of flame.

"Oh come on!" cried Ruby "what will it take" she whimpered.

Blake actually began to chuckle at the sight.

"I can't believe I'm laughing at something this absurd" she muttered.

Yang just snickered as she shook her head.

"Tell me about it."

Some groaning echoed through the incredibly vast greeting room. A set of stairs lied in the center of the room, leading to a higher floor, while a door behind the stairs, and two at either side led to even further recesses of the mansion.

"This place is massive" muttered Nora "I mean don't get me wrong I love it, but will we even need this much space? Seems overkill to me."

"We could break it down" said Ren "simply make a better guild house for our needs?"

Weiss sighed.

"I wish it would be that easy. This…place reeks of magic. The energy is seeping from every possible surface in this room…its almost nauseating."

"Its not pleasant is it?" asked Pyrrha "I've been told that without magic resistance it can become difficult to weather areas with large amounts of mana. I've always wondered if that was a reason behind the ranking system."

Weiss sighed again.

"I don't even want to think what this place was like even a decade ago…thankfully we all seem to be able to weather it. With this much magic I have little doubt that destroying the building will be more trouble than it's worth."

Ruby seemed a tad sick, but it was something akin to light air sickness. A feeling and nothing more. More an annoyance.

Jaune however felt fine. Almost…too fine.

"Is this the power of the Spellcaster's blessing?" thought Jaune.

No. This is due to inherited skill ? ? Rank C

Jaune blinked at the lack of Alarm, but realized that was simply answering his question...and there may have also been Jaune's own thoughts on the constant annoyance the alarm's ringing kept bringing.

"Can you tell me the skill?" asked Jaune.

Analyzing Parameters….54% has been analyzed and decoded.

The Player now has the ability to access inherited skills.

Accessing inherited skills. Displaying all possible skills.

Sword Art

? Art (Locked)

? Art (Locked)

Structural Grasping

Magic Resistance

? ? (Locked)

"Wait I have magic resistance!?" thought Jaune.

ALARM!

Would the player like to access the Magic Resistance skill?

"….really?" thought Jaune.

Magic Resistance Rank C:

The Magic resistance skill is a reflection of the Player's own power. Magic resistance is a skill that enhances a player's ability to withstand the power known as magic and the mana that makes up said magic. The current rank of the player and their power affect the power of Magic resistance. Current Player rank is C.

Effects: The Player is immune to all C rank debuff magic. All C rank magic is reduced by 32% when inflicted on the player.

"….well damn" muttered Jaune.

"Did you say something?" asked Ren.

"Oh nothing just…letting this sink in."

Ren nodded, understanding where Jaune was coming from.

"….How did I get this skill?" thought Jaune "I'm just a labor caste?"

Player has inherited this skill from ARTURIA PENDRAGON: PARAGON. This skill was activated at birth due to being subjected to ARTURIA PENDRAGON'S immense mana for their entire conception and birth. This skill is what allowed the player to withstand the environment of A rank dungeons albiet with extreme nausea and the occasional vomiting.

"Interesting" thought Jaune.

"Alright I'm ready to head out" said Blake "I'm going to scout the area and see what we're dealing with exactly."

With that, Blake's entire clothing scheme became black and she merged with the shadows. Jaune grew a little intrigued as he watched her sink into the shadows. She wasn't with it, but more like the shadows around her covered her completely, giving the illusion that nothing was there.

"Ruby, perhaps you can scout ahead for the west doors?" asked Pyrrha "with your speed, you can simply rush and out without concern."

Yang seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but kept her mouth shut. Ruby's speed was really that ridiculous, not to mention that her baby sister…was no longer a baby.

"Weiss, do you have any form of reconnaissance yourself?"

Weiss nodded.

"I have Mana pulse, but that will simply tell me a rough number rather than any specifics if that works."

"That's excellent thank you" smiled Pyrrha.

Nora simply began cleaning the bits of wood and debris that littered the floor. She seemed to inspect everything she picked up.

"…not all of these eroded" she mentioned "some of them were broken off…with a lot of impact."

She chucked a piece of broken wood and Ren, the calm man inspecting the splintered item.

"Seems we're not the only ones who have attempted to…raid this place" said Ren.

"I highly doubt we were. This building has been around for fifty years" said Weiss. Her eyes glowed blue as a slow blue ring began to echo through the floor.

"I'm shocked no one just decided to say screw and blow the whole place up" mentioned Nora.

"….I can't believe I'm saying this" muttered Ren "but I concur…there's more to this than we know…I don't like it."

"Neither do I" said Jaune "but like it or not we made a choice as a guild here. We want to stay together and so far this is literally our only option. We could wait but I'd rather not end up surprised when the other guilds blocked access to this place…seems like something they'd do."

Ren grumbled.

"Perhaps" he admitted "still this isn't good."

"No it's not" grumbled Weiss, who swallowed heavily.

Ruby rushed in from the west doors, while Blake landed from the ceiling.

"Good news" said Blake "the zombies are like we expected".

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zombies were some of the weakest monster one could find in the limitless dungeons.
"Bad news?" asked Pyrrha, having heard Blake's tone.

"There is a lot of these things" muttered Weiss.

"Tell me about it" pouted Ruby "First room I ran into was swarming with them! I've never seen so many monsters before…not to mention they stink".

Ruby shuddered, unable to forget the scent of decaying Flesh.

Blake nodded.

"There is quite a few but that's not the issue".

Blake held up one of her throwing knives, this one covered in the remains of a zombie.

"I killed one on my way out, ripping the knife from its head clean out. It fell dead, dispersing into white mist like they usually do. But instead of dispersing the mist just reassemble it."

"…Well that's not good" muttered Jaune "I've never heard of a Zombie that repaired itself after."

"That's the thing" said Blake "it didn't. The Zombie died and a new one took its place. The one I killed seemed female in shape. The new one looked male and was missing an arm."

"…something is going on here obviously" said Weiss "the zombies themselves are weak, however they are almost instantly replaced by another. Something is spawning them and if we want this house we have to stop it…we are extremely lucky though."

A zombie sauntered into the man room, having follow Ruby. Before anyone could say a thing, Weiss tapped her staff on the floor, a sheet of ice racing to hit the Zombie. When it did the entire corpse was frozen in an instance, its body lacking the resistance required to stop Weiss's freeze.

"I can freeze the entire room of zombies, but a spell that big takes time. It would be easier just to freeze each one individually but I don't have the mana to do that. I'll need each of you to protect me as a work through each room."

"Wait won't we get hit?" asked Ruby.

Weiss smiled as she looked at Jaune.

"We have our own personal heater, don't we? When the spell is ready simply go to Jaune and he'll keep the ice from coming to you. Can you do that?" asked Weiss.

Jaune nodded.

"Definitely. So long as they're behind me the flames won't hurt them."

Weiss smiled.

"Good. Lets clear the bottom floors first and make our way up."

"I think we should go up first" explained Pyrrha "after investigating each room we can block off each entrance as we make our way down, just incase your ice melts."

Weiss nodded.

"I second that" said Ren, drawing his sword.

"Same" said Nora.

"I think its better if we cleared the bottom floors first myself" said Blake "but honestly I just want to get this over with. The less time we waste on this the more time we can spend figure out alternatives if this fails."

Ruby smiled. She liked this, this whole atmosphere. The agreeable guild mates, a new weapon, at this moment she was having the time of her life thus far. So she agreed with either plan, not really caring how it played out.

Jaune was a different story however.

"So, if we clear the upper floor" said Jaune "I think we should barricade every door. If the ice even has the possibility of melting I'd rather not bother clearing the upper floor again. Besides if we do manage this, we're going to remodel the place anyway."

Pyrrha shrugged.

"Alright alright alright!" said Yang "let's get moving. The less time I have to spend around corpses the better!"

The group made sure their little camp was secure. They locked and blocked each door of the main floor and thus began their ascent up. The first set of doors directly across from the stairs was admittedly lack luster. It was a thick hallway filled with doors on either side. The doors were spread far from each other, giving the idea that each room was quite large. The first and second room were not filled with any zombies. But the broken furniture made it obvious that these rooms were bedrooms in some fashion. It was kind of boring at first that nothing was there. They were here to fight after all. However the third room was….

Well empty. Along with the fourth and the fifth. There was eight doors on either side of the hallway and all of them were empty. However, the sound of shuffling feet was a dead give away that the room at the furthest end of the hallway was filled with undead.

"Did you investigate this room?" asked Weiss.

Blake shook her head.

"This whole hallway was filled with them…I think" Blake briefly touched the large double doors made of oak. Suddenly a bunch of childish runes filtered through. To the others the runes seemed well put together, but Jaune's Rune Sight informed him that the runes were sloppy and grossly underused. The runes felt as if they were slapped on the door. The individual knew what the runes did, but had no idea how to structure them. Like a child that knew that the letters R E and D spelled red but had no idea which order.

"Magic" muttered Blake.

"Frost" muttered Jaune "resistance. Empower…no not empower this word is incomplete so it doesn't work…still whatever made this door knew Weiss's plan."

"So its not just the undead we're dealing with here is it?" asked Nora.

"It would seem that wasn't the case."

Yang smirked.

"They made the wrong move in this case. Jaune, how much fire can you make?"

Jaune shrugged.

"No clue. Never actually tested it yet."

Yang's smirk grew even more. A grin that was savage as Jaune's own covered her face, the irony lost on her.

"What would you say to doing a field test."

Jaune's grin matched her own, giving the two a rather…unpleasant aura. Jaune's right arm began to smolder with embers. The clothe on said arm turned to ash at the flame's touch making Jaune grimace. The shirt was the last one he had damnit.

Even outside of the dungeons his damn clothing wasn't safe.

"I'm going to breach."

"Breach?"

Yang smiled.

"My semblance lets me add an explosive payload to any attack I make. Once I hit this door, it will go flying and you burst in."

Yang quickly gestured for everyone to go to either side of the hallway, with Yang hugging the wall beside the door. She rested the side of her fist against the door and looked at Jaune. Jaune aimed both his hands and nodded his head back, gesturing for Yang to get behind him when he goes to attack.

Well…that was the plan at least. The fact they've only known each other for a few days led to a rather awkward game of charade. Yang kept getting confused and used hand gestures to try and signify what SHE meant, while Jaune did the same. Finally Ruby butted.

"No! No more!" cried Ruby "Jaune's saying get behind him after you bust the door!"

Yang and Jaune shared an equal look of understanding and gave each other the thumbs up. Ruby looked like she wanted to cry as she realize that there was TWO of her sister in this world.

God help us all.

Yang's eyes glowed azure as her fist caused the air around it to shimmer. She hit the door with all her strength causing a massive explosion the hurtled the doors into the rooms. Her passive circumvented the laws of physics, ensuring the force of the explosion was rendered to the entire surface of the door and didn't reverberate out to her guild mates.

She jumped behind Jaune as the young man finally let loose with his semblance. The torrent of flame was hot enough that the group felt it even behind him. The screech of countless zombies echoed through the hall as the scent of burning flesh entered their space. The walls and furniture of the house shimmered with countless runes as they withstood his flames. The zombies however did not for they had turned to ash, too weak to handle anything. But a black blur raced through the flames intent on catching Jaune by surprise with its elemental resistance. Imagine this things surprise as the flames got HOTTER, in response.

The closer it got to Jaune the more powerful his flames became. The thing finally gave up trying to attack Jaune through his fire and simply used magic to teleport behind him. Too bad it wasn't paying attention to Weiss. Before it could blink, several spears of ice pierced it through its body. Frost began to spread across the things body, before it froze solid. Weiss had been preparing mana the entire walk up, ready to freeze the room if necessary. Instead that was used to power a new skill simply known as Cryo Prison. A powerful skill that attacked and restrained the enemy, but cost immense mana and preparation time. How the young mage was able to circumvent the casting time was a mystery only known to Weiss.

This fact was overlooked however as the group took a look at the thing before them.

"Is that a?"

"Yup."

"….oh ew" muttered Yang.

Jaune inspected the creature trapped in the crystal like ice.

INSPECT!

Degraded Lich (Rank C-):

A lich is a corpse filled with magic and intelligence with the ability to summon and control its lesser brethren. Ordinarily a Lich would be a powerful monster, capable of endlessly raising minor zombies that it can empower and resurrect. Due to its essence being trapped within this guild house for fifty years, unable to replenish its connection to the land of shadows, this particular lich has lost most of its power, becoming nothing more than a monster that barely qualifies for a C ranking. These monsters are highly resistant to physical attack and are usually susceptible to ice and fire. However, due to the age this creature has lived it has developed an unusual resistance to fire.

Status: Frozen

"A damn lich, I heard about these guys" muttered Yang "thought it be…grosser if that makes any sense?"

Sure enough it did. The creature before them was nothing like the legends. It was made entirely of shadow. It was distinctly human in shape and the motion of the shadows it was comprised of made it seem like it was covered in robes and a hood. Only two red circles that cautioned like eyes were any indication that it wasn't just a lump of darkness. Its hands however, were white as bone and sharpened too, with only the hands being physical in anyway.

"Seems…too easy" muttered Blake "I've heard Lichs, even the minor ones, were ordinarily B rank threats."

"From what I can tell its been weakened" said Jaune "it seems to derive its power from something called the land of shadows…did it grow weaker because it couldn't go home?"

Everyone stared at Jaune.

"What?" he asked.

"All I got was Lich, rank, and a tad bit of info for its body or something."

"I've heard of this" said Weiss "Sometimes a reawakened hunter will be reborn with a stronger variation of Inspect. Never thought it would reveal that much information though."

Jaune hmmed in response.

"Wasn't expecting that" he admitted "I thought everyone got something like that every time they inspected something."

"Uh yea no. Would've made my life easier" admitted Nora "I'd know what wasn't poisonous!"

"Don't ask" said Ren "it's a long story."

With that said Ren took his sword and sliced the ice-covered lich in half. The lich's body began to slowly decay. The corpses that had just resurrected and began moving their way to the group, however slowly, instantly began to break apart into black dust, no white mist in sight.

"So, the zombies are summoned by the Lich" muttered Jaune.

"That is half the answer yes."

All of them turned to see the unusual summon before them once again.

"Hello again!"

Nora's jaw dropped.

"Why are you a chick?" she asked.

Maze blinked as they tilted their head.

"Am I? I admit the concept of gender isn't really something that applies to me. This is just a physical shell after all."

Maze smiled as they clasped their hands behind their back. They were still wearing the dress shirt and vest assortment.

"I see you defeated the Lich. Excellent! The last group did not fare so well against it. However, I hope you realize that this was simply a degraded Lich, far weaker than its usual peak."

"We are aware yes" muttered Weiss.

Maze blinked. Suddenly their eyes turned pitch black. It let its gaze filter through the group before landing on Jaune.

"Ahhh I see now. You've seen the Abyss young man…interesting…very interesting. Not many can say they have caught the mistress interests. Usually she drops her entertainment after a few days."

Jaune shrugged. Everyone else just stared at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You…please tell me he's not talking about Salem that Goddess and Mistress of the Abyss."

Jaune nodded.

"Oh gods" muttered Weiss.

Nora shrugged uncaring but the others became a tad uncomfortable.

"Oh don't worry" smiled Maze "my mistress is not anything like the legends you humans spread about. I find it hilarious how you humans barely understand each other yet think yourselves capable of understanding gods."

Maze turned serious as they locked eyes with the group.

"Now onto buisness" said Maze "you are the first group that didn't try to banish me from the premises. For that I thank you. As a reward allow me to tell you that location for the deed you're looking for is in the basement of this house. Its barrier magic has long run out, so grabbing it will be easy enough."

"Barrier magic?" said Ruby "why would a guild put their deed under barrier magic?"

Maze shrugged.

"My master's sister was a paranoid woman. She seemed to be under the delusion that someone taking the deed would suddenly own the home. Ironically that is the case here. It works to your benefit in this case."

Jaune narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms.

"So" he muttered "the basement is what exactly? If it was that easy to grab the thing someone would have done so already."

Maze smiled.

"The basement is home to the ritual that started this whole debacle."

The sigils and runes on Maze's arms glowed and steamed.

"Ah, trying to punish me now?" chuckled Maze "good thing I got rid of physical sensation for this body or I'd be in trouble!"

Jaune stared at the demon blankly.

"Forgive me" smiled Maze "I haven't had intelligent conversation in well over 40 years. Indulge me a little."

"Fine then" said Blake "what's in the basement exactly."
"Oh a giant horde of zombies that continuously spill forth from the gate that was created to the land of shadows. They'll never die and are instantly replaced much like that Lich you just faced. It took the first team everything they had to seal the basement shut, while sealing three other creatures to the property. You've killed the last of these creatures, as a team eliminated the other two many years back. I believe your headmaster was a part of that team. They did so well too, they only faltered due to an overconfident tank…ah the poor fool."

The sigils on Maze's arms grew even hotter in intensity.

"Oh goodie" smiled Maze "it hasn't tried to destroy my core just yet. It's such a chore to repair that after its been shattered let me tell you."

Blake paled as she looked at the others.

"I'm not exactly suited in large engagements. Jaune and Weiss will have to be the vanguards in this instance."

Jaune nodded.

"Probably. But theres more to this, I just know it."

"No quest I've gotten from the system has ever been simple. There's always hidden objectives and unknown factors that influence them. If this guild house is a quest then it just means there's more to this than meets the eye" he thought.

"In that case" said Pyrrha "what exactly is the problem. You've said it yourself, there is a portal that leads to this…land of shadows. If we wish to keep the house we have to remove that portal."

"Indeed!" said Maze.

"How do we do that?" asked Ruby.

"I can't tell you that."

The sigils on Maze's arms now glowed blue, revealing a set of hidden runes. These were different as they were barely damaged from the passage of time.

"Speech, restrict…and than a bunch of topics I barely understand" said Jaune "but one of the words is portal…and curse…did I just see lightning?"

Jaune stared at Maze.

Maze simply smiled.

"Oh a fetish she didn't want anyone to know about."

"You just told us that!" said Ruby.

"No, I confirmed it. I cannot tell you anything about the portal downstairs."

Maze smiled as Jaune's eyes shone in recognition.

"Can I ask you questions?" said Jaune.

Weiss stared at him.

"What are you….of course!" said Weiss "if we can figure out the limits of this contract we can possibly circumvent them".

Jaune nodded as Maze answered with a sadistic glee.

"Oh of course!" they said "ask all you want."

"Is there any way that we can learn more about the portal or ritual at play here?"

Maze's smile grew sadistic as they shook their head.

"No. There is no human way for me to divulge the information about the immortality ritual the guild of Phantoms attempted."

Yang worded immortality and stared at Weiss in disbelief. Weiss rolled her eyes as she shook her head.

"Not again" she muttered "in Atlas there is always some reckless fool looking for such a thing…it never ends well."

"There's no human way" muttered Jaune "Does that mean there's a demonic way?"

Maze smiled as the runes disappeared. As this was a topic that wasn't enforced by the runes, they disappeared.

"Oh yes there is" said Maze in relief "oh thank your gods and whatever else you mortals foolishly believe in for seeing through all this. The first team was a bunch of faith fanatics. They even tried to kill me! The second team just ignored me, something about automated golems or some such."

"To the topic at hand please" urged Ren.

"Oh of course! Yes there is a way to circumvent the seals that bind me, at least for specific information."

"….what is it" muttered Pyrrha.

She was on guard now. Her eyes sharp as she stared at Maze.

"Oh that's easy" they chuckled "make a deal with me."

Jaune blinked.

"Oh hell no!" yelled Yang "I am not letting you near my damn soul!"

Maze blinked.

"What?" they said "who in the cosmos would want that useless thing? I mean some of the weaker demonic entities snack on them for power, but I'm an Arch demon sweet heart. I have no need for power. Just knowledge. You see I have the ability to access the knowledge of the abyss albiet as my mistress allows it. All secrets lie in the dark and I can access those secrets and divulge them in exchange for information. In this case the deal would be a secret for a secret. The secret of the ritual and how to stop it, in exchange for a secret of yours. After all" smiled Maze "a secret is only a secret when no one else knows it."

Jaune rose an eyebrow. He looked at the uncomfortable expressions on his friends. Each of them trying to figure out what to give or say in response. Jaune smiled.

"I'll give you my secret" he smiled.

He held his hand out. Maze narrowed their eyes as they clasped his hands. Sigils appeared on both their arms, demonic and eldritch in power. Jaune's eyes devoured them greedily. They appeared to fast for him to fully decipher but two were obvious.

Demonic Trait and Bind.

Maze scowled in disgust.

"You arrogant child. I won't accept a secret you were planning to reveal anyw!"

To the others it would seem that Maze went still along with Jaune. To them this hiccup only lasted a second, but to Maze and Jaune? The world suddenly went dark. Jaune couldn't move, but Maze seemed to know where they were.

"My my" she smiled "aren't you greedy. His offer fits your little deal, the principle of the matter is irrelevant. Do not toy with my entertainer MAZE…remember your place."

Salem's quiet chuckle sent a shiver down Jaune's spine. As the darkness receded Jaune caught sight of a pair of eyes staring at him from the shadows. A whispered sentence echoed in his ears.
"Do not disappoint me".

The chuckle that accompanied it just made Jaune smirk.

Maze swallowed as they stared at Jaune.
"….what are you?" they demanded.

The darkness began to recede a little. To Maze's shock, Jaune was able to move before the darkness fully went away. Jaune shrugged.

"Apparently her little entertainer. Now do we have a deal?"

"As if I have a choice" they growled.

Jaune rolled his eyes. Maybe they fed on something with secrets and knowledge but this was just annoying. Maze sighed distastefully as they let go of Jaune's hand.

"Reveal your secret child…and then I will give you the information you want."

The runes ignited, binding the two temporarily. Jaune scowled in disgust at it.

"I will not tolerate half-truths and half the story" muttered Maze "I will tell if it's a lie or not."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at them.

"Don't try to play me and we'll be good".

Jaune took a breath. His heart hammered a bit as he spoke.

"My name is Artorias Pendragon, the son of Arturia Pendragon and Shirou Pendragon. I was born to the Paragon of Atlas and a simple black smith and have inherited the name of the Abyss Walker."

The demon went to scoff, its hands already itching to activate the runes for deception…only for the sigils to respond at the truth of his words.

"Interesting" smiled Maze, who was now very interested "tell me more. As I said, no half stories."

Weiss stared at Jaune in shock.

"What?" asked Jaune.

"Artorias…is that really you?"

Jaune blinked.

"Did I know you?"

Weiss smiled as she shook her head.

"No…but I knew you…during the epidemic…nevermind it was so long ago" smiled Weiss.

Her smile slowly turned into an expression of complete and utter disbelief.

"….now…..WHAT!?"

Jaune felt his ear drums burst from her screaming.

"HOW DID YOU CANGE YOUR NAME! HOW ARE YOU HERE!?"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole son of Artoria thing" admitted Blake.

"Tell me about it" muttered Yang.

Ruby just stared, trying to say something.

"Who?" asked Nora.

Ren sighed as he rubbed his eyes while the others looked at her like she was insane.

"Artoria Pendragon is considered the most powerful woman on the planet."

"Oh sure" muttered Nora "like Atlas hasn't said that before."

"She one shotted the black dragon Vortigern, the dragon that escape the S rank dungeon 12 years ago" muttered Ren.

"…oh"

"Yea oh."

"….NICE!" yelled Nora clasping Jaune on the shoulder "sucks she kicked ya to the curb! Those nobles…eh?"

Jaune glared at Nora.

"She didn't abandon me. She…my grandfather has her bound to a Giess that keeps her in Atlas and away from me and dad. She cannot talk to us, she cannot interact with, hell she can't even use proxy's. Before the Giess took hold she told me and dad to make our way to Duchy of Arc

"Why there?" asked Ruby.

"She owns it. The king of Vale gave it to her when she stopped Vortigern's rampage."

Ruby's blinked.

"Oh."

"I doubt your mother was restrained by Uther" smiled Maze whose eyes were now black, reading the events that happened with Jaune.

"She wasn't…I was" whispered Jaune.

The shame of being so weak and helpless welled up within him. Pyrrha frowned at his expression…her hand raised to try and help him but she thought better of it. There was time for that later.

"Say it" demanded Maze "say it if you want the information."

Suddenly Jaune could see why Maze was a demon. It's crazed expression was more than enough to tell.

"Uther kidnapped me and held me at knife point. He waited until my mother was sent onto an A rank dungeon and then came over. Dad was busy at the forge so I was with a few servants at the time…they…."

Jaune's eyes closed as he remembered the bleeding wound they gave his older friend.

"…They bribed all the servants but Bedivere they…they cut off his arm and left him for dead at my feet. Uther than grabbed me and held a knife to my throat. Mom couldn't attack him with me threatened like that. He caught wind that mom wanted to retire…said that her retiring was a stupid decision brought on by pathetic NPC's…that if she left Uther would lose almost all influence in the country…that she would ruin the Pendragon name…and that she already stained it with me. He kenw if he killed us she would just obliterate him and everyone he associated with so he offered her a Giess…in exchange for never taking my life or my fathers she would be bound to Uther…she would do as he says…marry who he says…basically be his slave."

Maze scoffed.

"Pathetic fool" they sneered "a Giess is not all powerful."

Jaune smiled.

"That they are not. My mother was far too powerful for the Giess to fully take effect. She was able to alter and change the Giess so that she was only bound to Atlas…but when it returned to Uther he was able to add on final clause…she would be unable to interact with me or help me in anyway. She would not be allowed to interact or see dad…and Uther branded me with a name stone. The only damn reason I know all of this is because Uther went on a raving rant about it. He couldn't kill me…but he went ballistic on me for a bit after the signing finished."

Jaune gripped his chest in remembrance of the pain. The man beat on him for a while before Lancelot showed up. Sadly, the Giess soul bonded Uther and Arturia. Her knights couldn't kill Uther without ending the life of their beloved leader.

"He stripped me of my name and casted me off to Vale. Thankfully a Paladin named Lancelot, my mother's right-hand man, and his wife Guinevere escorted me to Vale and renamed me Jaune."

"What kind of a sick fuck brands a child with that kind of fate."

Everyone turned to Pyrrha in shock. The young woman blushed in embarrassment.

"SORRY!" she said "just…being nameless is one of the worst punishments a kingdom can enforce."

"Interesting" muttered Maze "to think there was an artifact like this in the world….very well" said Maze "I'll tell you everything I can about the ritual and as an added bonus for my…impetuous behavior, I will also reveal how you can easily stop it unlike the other teams. Due to you revealing both your secret and a new piece of information I can do that much at least."

Maze gestured for the group to follow him as they went down the stairs.

"Now" said Maze "to keep things short. The ritual in question was a combination of skills that were invoked from a caster, sorceress, summoner, and enchanter classes. My master, Samora, was an unwilling participant in this case, but she was the one whose spell allowed the portal to open. Ordinarily you humans can only open portals to other worlds for brief moments. It's how the summoning spells work after all. But through the Caster, Sorceress, and Enchanter classes, they were able to keep it open…with a Catalyst."

Suddenly from Maze's left hand a red image showed up. It was a small spear that was blood red in color and had many runes running along its shaft. All in all the weapon looked pretty ordinary, if unusual for its red color scheme. But, Jaune noticed that the spear head itself had small barbs.

"This is Gae Bolg."

Jaune instantly recognized the name, for Gae was a part of Derg's name, the spirit of the tree that helped him create Ruby's weapon. Not to mention the red wood was eerily similar as well.

"Were they made from the same tree?" thought Jaune.

"This is a weapon that was forged by the Warden of the land of shadows. She's a terrifying combatant and rune master and ensures that the land of shadows functions as it should. Samora was threatened by her sister, the Sorceress Marina, to use my abilities to steal this spear and use it as a catalyst. I was then bound by Marina and her compatriots when I returned. There are three methods to closing the portal. The first is suicidal as it includes simply forcing it shut."

Weiss immediately shivered.

"If…if that's true the resulting explosion would destroy everything around us. Mages have been researching for years how to forcibly shut a dungeon…they never end well."

"Indeed" said Maze "hence we're not using it, now your second option."

"Wasn't this supposed to be quick?" asked Nora.

Maze gave her the stink eye.

"I haven't spoken to anyone in well over forty years and while I find your company less than optimal, I am enjoying nonetheless. Now, please let me speak or I will simply STOP speaking."

Nora went to do another quip but Ren stopped her and shook his head.

"Continue" he asked.

"Gladly. Now the second option would just be to destroy the ritual circle in the room. It's the physical anchor for the skills keeping the gate open. It would ordinarily be indestructible but the ravages of time have left it quite destructible. It would take a few hours of fighting off the limitless forces of Dun Scath, exceedingly difficult but doable…but you have him."

Jaune blinked as he pointed at himself.

"Yes you" chuckled Maze "you are a Runewright, an individual with an affinity for runes. You can read and utilize them correct?"

"Uh…yes?"

"Then that means you alone can handle Gae Bolg. I hope you are aware of class restricted weapons?"

They all nodded, each of them glancing at Ruby's scythe.

"This is a similar principle. The spear was made with runes in mind. It is infused with them and is empowered by them. As such the restriction to the spear is that one must be able to use runes to equip it. As a demonic entity I myself qualify but alas".

The runes shone brightly on Maze's arms.

"But, you humans have never had a true runewright before hence why no one else has bothered to try and grab the spear. The second team's tank, a young man named Haze, attempted to take the spear…it killed him in under a second."

Maze smiled.

"Enough history, with your friend here…all you need to do is remove the spear. Without the Catalyst the spell circle cannot locate the land of shadows and without being able to complete its function, the spell will simply fade away…in theory" muttered Maze.

Jaune swallowed as he looked at his hands.

"Is it really that simple?" asked Jaune.

"Maze is still hiding something" he thought "Dun Scaith? Is that the actual name of the land of shadows?"

Regardless Jaune didn't need to hear anymore. Whatever Maze was doing, he wouldn't stand around for it to occur.

"Let's go" said Jaune "no more time to waste. If all we have to do is remove a spear than lets get to it."

"Someone is eager" smiled Maze "good. The second that spell circle is gone so am I. Oh how grand it would be for me to finally arrive home."

Maze hugged themselves, revealing their impressive bust. Ren rolled his eyes making Nora smile. Jaune simply rose an eyebrow, wondering why one earth they were doin that.

Maze frowned and pouted.

"Oh come now that always worked. I wanted to see you both rocket off from a bloody nose."

Jaune blinked.

"….Welp I'm done" he muttered.

Pyrrha chuckled.

"Ah here we are" smiled Maze.

The door before them was a simple one. A single door that was oak in make...

Oh and covered in complex runes and bloody hand prints.

"…Can I leave?" asked Yang.

"No" said the group.

Pyrrha gripped the door handle and twisted the door open. The wave of pure energy and malice almost brought all of them to their knees…Ruby however seemed entirely unaffected.

"Ah the benefits of a Reaper" muttered Maze "spirits are your natural prey. As such any spiritual attack will be rendered ineffective to you, but in return you are highly vulnerable to physical attack. How sad."

"You know my class!" yelled Ruby.

Maze smiled, their eyes growing hungry at another possible deal.

"Oh indeed I do. Quite a lot."

"Yea no" said Yang "not happening. We'll figure it out on our own now goodbye."

With that Yang grabbed her sister away from the Archdemon and made everyone follow her down the rather steep and narrow stairway.

"Damnit it could this get any creepier!?" demanded Yang.

Maze chuckled as they slowly closed the door behind them.

"Goood luuck" they sang.

When the door had closed the entire group was subjected to darkness…at least only for a moment. Jaune lifted his arm and ignited his passive. The hallway glowed in a strong light, but only for a few feet in front of them. Yang just shivered as she took point.

"Oh, this guild house better be worth it."

Yang swallowed as she struggle to find words.

"soo" she said "uh…yur mom's famous! Uh…how is that?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune.

"I mean people must have flocked over to you and annoyed the crap out of you."

"Not really" said Jaune "I kept it to myself. Not like anyone would have believed us anyway."

"Oh true" chuckled Yang awkwardly "so…that Maze thing seemed pretty pissed at first. Said something about not wanting a secret you planned to reveal…you were actually going to tell us this?"

Jaune smiled.

"Of course. It's not like there was any reason not to, not to mention you'd all have to know anyway. I plan to get to Atlas and free my mother from her Giess. Can't exactly disappear on you, now can I?"

"You're going to break her Giess?" muttered Weiss "but that's…what's your plan. I assume you have one?"

Jaune scowled.

"I have the workings of one" he admitted.

Jaune picked up a rusty dagger that was embedded in the wall to his left. Jaune gripped it tight and activated his DISMANTLE skill. The dagger had blue lines glow around it, before it suddenly exploded into blue motes.

"Right now, this skill is weak" admitted Jaune "but there's a lot of potential for it. I'm hoping that if I level it up enough it will let me destroy a Giess."

Weiss smiled.

"That…I've never seen a skill that can destroy something like that…it was like your magic took it apart piece by piece."

"Do you think it has merit?" asked Jaune.

Weiss nodded.

"Definitely. A Giess is immune to any form of damage from the outside. It cannot burn, freeze, or be torn apart. But if that skill can destroy it from the inside? As far as I'm aware no mage has an internal attack skill that's small enough to do that."

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAARRR.

Jaune sighed.

"Really?" he asked.

Why did he seem so annoyed?

Well that was because a certain blonde woman had jumped behind Jaune and pushed him forward.

"I'm not the one who has a built in flame thrower! Besides I'm handling the ones in the back!"

"Wait what?"

Jaune turned his head and sure enough coming from the walls were…zombies?

"What the actual hell?" muttered Jaune "I thought we were fighting zombies?"

Yang grinned as she slammed her fists together.

"Oh these I can fight!"

She threw her fist out, slamming it home into one of the black creature's face. They were shaped like genderless humans. They were all the same. Their bodies were comprised entirely of bone. Their heads were smooth with small spikes on the back. There was no holes for their mouths or eyes. They lacked hands and instead only had hardened spikes.

Yang's first blow destroyed the head of one of them, spilling a black mist from the injury. She kept her back to Weiss, protecting her as the woman began to collect mana. Pyrrha was even further than Yang, using hand to hand combat to handle a few of them. She weaved past their attacks, the hallway too narrow to effectively use her weapons. Her sword was buried in the skull of one of the attackers, peircing it into the wall. Her shield was gone into her inventory. With a quick spin movement, Pyrrha grabbed one of the white beasts head and snapped with a quick jerk.

"These are weak" admitted Pyrrha "but their bodies are quite sturdy, it would be best to leave this hallway."

"Oh I don't know I kind of like its atmosphere" smiled Nora "really of course we're going to leave the damn hallway!"

Nora roared with a smile as she barreled past Jaune, taking the numerous creatures with her and clearing the way for the hallway. She seemed to grow in strength as the creatures tried to stab her in the back. Their bladed arms were unable to pierce through her skin, her aura protecting her for a time. However, such a thing wouldn't last forever as many dead hunters would obviously prove.

Knives quickly found their home in the creatures skulls. Blake hopped on Nora's back, impossibly agile for her size. Nora blinked as she barely felt Blake's weight as Blake quickly stabbed the remaining creatures.

Jaune took this time to break through the hallway and scan the remains of one of the white creatures.

INSPECT

Calcified Wraith (Rank C):

A wraith born from the land of shadows. Ordinarily a wraith is a being born from immense negative emotions coiled around a soul. They have lingering anger and hatred from life that mutates their soul into a twisted version of themselves. In short they are normally born from the dead and are incorporeal in nature. The Calcified Wraith is a unique existence of the land of shadows. They are the lingering dead brought forth from the shadows. The mana that makes up their form hardened and calcified into the white form the Player currently sees. Due to this they are ordinarily powerful creatures that stalk the plains of Dun Scaith. However, these particular wraiths are removed from the source of their power, their home, and as such suffer extreme reduction in rank, dropping from A to C. Even so they retain the abilities of their incorporeal cousins and can phase through solid matter. Due to the reductions of rank they are incapable of phasing through physical attacks or resisting magic.

Status: Deader than dead

Jaune swallowed heavily. If what he read was true…than the people in the past had to fight these things at full power…and that meant everything around him was originally so powerful that they shouldn't have even been able to breath, much less fight.

"Shit there's a lot of these things" muttered Nora.

"My knives pierced their hide but they won't stay dead for long…not to mention my knives won't be able to handle their strong hides for much more…we need a strategy."

Sure enough, black smoke began to fill the wounds and make them twitch. Before one of the could stand however, a shard of white ice pierced its chest. The ice began to spread and freeze the creature in place.

"Oh…never mind" smiled Blake.

Weiss scoffed as she blew a strand of hair from her face.

"Leave it to me. For now we should worry about breaching through this horde. They have yet to notice us."

Jaune blinked and sighed. The basement was utterly massive. It looked like an abandoned warehouse to the young man, massive in size. However, it made it rather easy to notice the swirling purple portal at the right corner of the room. In the middle was a large circle that was spinning away. It was obvious that it was the spell circle…mostly because the white army that was guarding it was shifting away around it. Their shambled walk just made them seem creepier. From Jaune's quick count he noticed there seemed to be at least sixty of them.

"Who on Remnant needs a basement this friggen big" growled Nora.

"Obviously they must been hiding more than just an asinine ritual for immortality."

Weiss sighed as she rubbed her head.

"Sorry…it's mages like them who give Atlas a bad name…even if it is rightly deserved."

Blake patted Weiss on the back making the girl smile slightly.

"Focus on the now" muttered Blake "there's too many to hand"

FWOOOSH!

Fire, fire so hot it made their throats parched billowed out in front of them. Jaune shot forth like a rocket, smashing right into the center the swarm. The screeching that followed sounded like it came from bugs. The chittering an annoying but satisfying sound for what it indicated. Ruby was next to move, her scythe urging her forward. The scythe protected her from Jaune's flames. Ruby's blade sliced through one Calcified Wraith. It was a small cut admittedly. Ruby was about to turn and finish it off, only for the wraith's body to crumble into dust.

"Huh?"

She looked around and sure enough her guildmates were handling the rest. Soon the room was empty.

"…"

"…"

"…..Ok I'll say!" yelled Nora "this was too damn easy!"

Step.

Step.

Step."

"Thank you Nora, truly thank you" muttered Ren "you officially jinxed us."

From the purple portal walked a knight. Its armor as black as knight, red smoke billowing from the openings. Jaune blinked as his eyes scanned the knight.

INSPECT

Knight of the Abyss Kevin (Rank B)

A squire that was once in service to the legendary Abyss Walker Artorias. In the past the land of shadows capital Dun Scaith was not as closed off as it was in this modern day. The Abyss Walker, for reasons of his own, sought out the land of shadows. Perhaps it was for glory, for honor, for the LOOT! The reasoning is unknown, but the truth is that Artorias did battle with the Warden of Dun Scaith and survived, returning home a legend of impossible stature. However, he returned to face the Warden once again and state unknown intentions. Kevin was a squire in service to his lord and followed him to the ends of Dun Scaith where others did not…and as such he met his end. But his soul was not filled with regret or hate but instead a sense of righteousness and strength that fought and defeated the corruption of the land of shadows. Here he stands once more in service to another lord, intent on protecting both his original home and Dun Scaith. Fear the power of Kevin, the Black Knight….

Yes that is his name.

Class: Knight

Level: Unknown

Jaune inspected his sword and shield next.

INSPECT

Dark Sword (Rank B):

Kevin's original sword, tainted by the land of shadows. It has the ability to withstand great pressure and holds an impossible edge. Normally such a weapon would taint and poison the opponent. However, such tactics are beneath a Knight and spit upon the laws of Chivalry. Through sheer force of will the Black Knight Kevin has subjugated the Dark Sword to his will and restricts such abilities. What powers that brings to bear is unknown. The sword is highly effective against spiritual entities as a result.

Conceptual Weapon: The Abyssal Shield (Rank EX)

The Abyssal Shield. The Land of Shadows is a force beyond human comprehension. Even the Warden does not know all its secrets. After defeating the corrupting forces of the land of shadows Kevin awoke to the sight of this kite shield attached to his left arm. A conceptual shield that represents the immortal forces of Dun Scaith. All spiritual attacks are rendered useless against its stalwart defense and the shield is able to change shape in accordance to the users will. The shield's strength is a reflection of the wielder's will and as such cannot be qualified by standard rankings. The shield also has the ability to resist magic and absorb kinetic energy. It is the ultimate defense born from Dun Scaith.

"….What on earth is a conceptual weapon?"

A conceptual weapo-

"Tell me after!" thought Jaune "we're in the middle of this!"

The Black Knight Kevin simply drew its blade. It than placed the tip on the ground, while clasping both hands on the end of the handle.

"We should all attack at on-"

"No" said Jaune "let me try something."

Jaune drew his own sword and mimicked the stance of Kevin. The knight, however many centuries old it may have been, was still a Knight of Atlas. The Knight seemed to stand straighter at Jaune's actions.

"My name is Artorias Pendragon" said Jaune "me and my guild mates seek to close this portal from your home. We seek no quarrel with you. Please allow us to draw the spear and close this infernal portal."

Kevin tilted his head to the left.

"Jaune I don't think it can understand us" whispered Ruby.

"I can understand you just fine" said a breathy voice.

Kevin's voice was impossibly young, around their own age. Ruby's eyes near bugged out of her head while Yang seemed about ready to faint at the sight of a Knight ghost.

"You seek to close this portal?" demanded the Knight "and you say your name is Artorias?"

"Indeed" said Jaune "I know the name above me states otherwise but-"

"The name above your head is a fake I am aware" muttered the Knight "I do not see as you do, not any longer. Your soul burns like fire, but there is a hint of…ah yes. I see you hail from the Pendragon's…the blood of dragons flows through your veins as strongly as any direct descendent. Artorias would have been proud for his name to be inherited even centuries after his passing, especially for one of your class. However, I cannot simply let you draw the spear."

"My class?" muttered Jaune "no that's not important. Why won't you let us pass?"

Kevin gave a tired sigh.

"Your strength isn't enough. The group already took the spear from the Warden. Whose to say such a thing will not happen again? You need not be able to wield the spear to use it as this has demonstrated to you all. The Land of Shadows is closed off for a reason. I cannot allow any chance of this happening again…too many aspiring heroes have already lost their lives to the machinations of mad men."

The Knight seemed to stand straighter than before, his posture now strong and true.

"As for your class" the Knight's tone seemed to take delighted tone "Artorias would have been happy to see one of your number inherit his name. He firmly believe in Noblesse Oblige, that it was his duty to protect all from harm wherever it may come…while I hope your caste is not as abused as it was in the past…I know the nobles and mages well enough to know that will never be the case."

"I can wield the spear" asserted Jaune "and my guild and I require this building to stay within Beacon. I'm sorry but we must take the spear."

The Knight took a fighting stance. His shield swirled dangerously as chaotic energy spilled from it, spreading across the floor. The Knight crouched as he pointed their sword at Jaune.

"Very well…than show me you're strong enough to protect it!"

Jaune blinked and the Knight was face to face with him.

"FAST!"

Before Jaune could speak, Ruby had already attacked, the tip of her scythe hitting home on Kevin's armored shoulder. To Ruby's surprise her Scythe sparked against his armor.

A quick inspect from Jaune revealed it to be an Atlesian set of Elite Knight Armor. But the properties shouldn't have been able to withstand Ruby's strike, from what Jaune saw she seemed to be extra effective against spirits.

"A reaper" whispered Kevin "haven't seen your kind in quite some time. I'm afraid your advantage over spirits does not apply on me, for I am not undead. I am both a living and dead body, your skills will have no effect on me. An good attempt though."

"Then what about this!" roared Yang.

Jaune jumped out of the way, his arms sparking into fire one more time. Before he moved, he had quickly lashed out a kick at Kevin, hitting him right in the chest. The knight bent forward slightly, having felt the blow, while Yang's fist smashed against his helmet, forcing his head a small ways to the right.

"Good, GOOD" intoned Kevin "honor has its place on the battlefield, but this is not a war nor a tourney, all advantages should be used."

"Thanks for the advice" growled Blake.

Before she could strike Kevin's, shield grew tendrils and gripped the assassin. The girl was flung away, sliding on the ground in a small crouch. She stared at his shield in apprehension.

"While I do not find the company of assassins to be of any good, I am happy to see you lot are of a far more open mind than I. Next time girl, do not speak before you strike."

Kevin blocked Pyrrha's strike with his sword, while letting his shield swirl with dark energy. The Kite shield protected him from the ice spears that were flung his way from Wiess.

"Excellent control" complimented Kevin "you wear your colors with pride child of Atlas, but you lack confidence. Your mana has barely dipped, do not be afraid to use your stronger spells when they are allowed."

Kevin's helmet turned to Pyrrha, and the two began an avid duel of swordplay. Numerous parrys and strikes echoed through the room. Jaune sent small torrents at Kevin's back, only for his shield to flow from his arms and onto his back. Kevin switched to a two-handed style almost seamlessly. Suddenly the Knight rolled out of the way as Ren tried to strike him from behind.

"You both have excellent skill for your age, your hard work and training shows. But again, you share similar problems, you hold your skills too much in reserve. Do not be afraid to use your skills as often as you need, for your martial skills are what keep you alive as they cool down. I'm impressed, you all work well together, albeit sloppily. It reminds me of the day when our Knights roamed the kingdom…tell me boy, does the Covenant of the Wolf still stand against injustice?"

Jaune threw another torrent of fire, this time with much greater force. Ren and Pyrrha had already moved out of the way, leaving Jaune ample room to conjure immensely powerful fire. The dark knight ran to the left and began to….

Roll?

Indeed the heavily armored knight rolled and rolled again to the right, somehow evading Jaune's torrent of flames like a drunk man falling.

"No" said Jaune in all seriousness "Your order stands no more, but it became the bases for the Round Table, a collection of classes that refer to themselves as Knights that protect the Atlas populace."

Jaune couldn't believe that he was talking to a Knight that followed his greatest hero, Artorias the Abyss Walker. It took everything Jaune had not to simply talk away with the Knight. For after all, if Kevin was still alive…did that mean?

"This is not enough" stated Kevin, smashing his sword against Nora's stomach.

The poor berserker was sent flying, but thankfully caught her footing quickly. She had almost smashed into the wall behind her.

Jaune snarled as he got in close, surprising the Knight. He managed to land three blows in quick succession. Two across his chest and one in the helmet.

"Strong" stated the Knight "as a Pendragon should be. But again, this isn't enough. You've yet to show me that you can protect the spear and keep the gate closed."

"Just take the damn thing then!" yelled Yang.

"She's got a point" grumbled Jaune "if you've appeared now than take the spear."

"I may seem a being of free will, but I am not. My immortal soul is bound to the land of shadows and so too are my actions to some extent. It is taking everything I have for the residents not to spill forth from the gate. Dun Scaith is not a pleasant land. It wishes to devour and corrupt everything it touches, only the Warden is entirely unaffected. As for myself? Taking the spear is impossible, Dun Scaith will not allow it."

Sure enough a multitude of speared arms were stabbing their way through the portal, only to seemingly be pushed back in. Kevin however seemed to be relieved about something.

Suddenly a torrent of Ice speared through the ground at Kevin. The Knight's shield, now flowing back to his left arm, protected him for danger but did not prevent the frosty energy from eating away at him. Pyrrha's blade was now glowing red along with her eyes. Ren took a high stance, his sword emitting some steam as his now azure eyes glared at Kevin.

"My apologies" said Ren "but get out of our house."

"Jaune!"

The young man turned around and saw Weiss pointing at a red pole sticking out of the ground.

"Oh ho" whispered Kevin.

The knight tried to rush Jaune, but Pyrrha stood in his way. Her now glowing sword smashed into his defenses. While the blade and energy were interrupted by the shield, that did not mean that Kevin could move unimpeded. After all, Ren took that opportunity to attack. Kevin narrowed his eyes as Nora reappeared, her axe biting into Kevin's shoulder deep enough to cut his unusual body. Her axe however, shattered.

Kevin believed himself clear, but was surprised when Nora's eyes glowed azure blue, than orange. Suddenly Ren's strength and speed went up considerably.

"That is no simple buff spell" chuckled Kevin "ahh a Valkyrie, I should have known such fire as yours could only belong to someone of their brood. Well done girl, although the sacrifice of your weapon is never a good thing."

Nora grinned as she socked him in the face with a rather surprising effective punch. Kevin weaved between Pyrrha and Ren.
"Fair enough" he chuckled.

Jaune was running full force to get to the spear. He arrived rather quickly, but was shocked to see that the white wraiths began to spill put of the gate. Weiss, who was breathing quite hard, slammed her staff into the ground, freezing everything around her. Jaune smiled in thanks and finally gripped the shaft of the spear.

"Now to just-"

KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL. TEARKILLKILLOUTKILLKILLKILLTHEKILLKILLHEARTKILLKILL.

Jaune scowled as the sudden wave of unbelievable bloodlust attempted to swallow him whole. Jaune's eyes glowed crimson as he fought against the weapon. It was intent on killing him, but Jaune simply quelled it. It was like a raging dog, a hound howling for blood. Jaune simply roared in response, slowly removing the spear in question. If it wanted to hunt and kill so damn much,

THAN DO SO ON HIS ORDERS.

"You get to kill me?" asked Jaune "who decided that!"

Jaune's title, Indomitable Will, echoed through him assisted him in crushing the invading malice. The spears demonic energy quickly found itself quelled and tamed. It was weaker than it should have been after all.

Jaune finally roared in victory as he finally tugged the spear free. The room echoed as the spell circle exploded in a shower of mana. Suddenly a gale ripped through the room, causing all the wraiths to be swallowed by a slowly closing gate.

"Phew" muttered Jaune "got it."

"Indeed you did" said Kevin "I was surprised at the judgements you all made. You all lack strength that much is true, but strength can be acquired. It was your judgement I was looking at and you all have eased my worries, thank you."

"Does this mean the house is ours!" squealed Ruby.

"Yup" chuckled Nora "now find that deed!"

Ruby gave a mock salute and disappeared.

"Quite fast" muttered Kevin "although her speed and power are immense, her lack of defense is worrying. Ah what do the words of an old Knight such as myself matter, well done young heroes. Remember, the spear is a key to the realm of shadows you must protect it. That demon of whoever was able to restrain the portal to this size…if they hadn't…be thankful they succeded. . .SPEAR."

Jaune nodded as he clenched it.

"Good" nodded Kevin "ah that was a good bout, thank you. A spectacular showing from all of you, now I must bid you adieu, the land of shadows calls me back home once more. The demon has already left this realm, so I'll leave you with one last message, there was a fourth entity who left the Dun Scaith…a powerful shadow lord that seeks something within this realm. I have little doubt they've already been dealt with…but if not than I leave you this warning."

With that the Dark Knight known as Kevin faded from view, the red essence they dissolved into sliding into the portal.

"Holy crap I'm beat!" said Nora "this whole thing never went like I thought it would. I mean I thought for sure we'd face endless hordes or something!"

"Indeed" agreed Ren "but I'm thankful its over."

Yang fell to her butt and lied on her back.

"I'm taking a power nap. I've just cleared a whole house of undead, dealt with a demon, and apparently fought the remnant of an ancient Knight who wasn't a dick…I say I deserve it."

Pyrrha chuckled as she sat beside Yang.

"Perhaps we all deserve a break. I personally thought we'd have been here for months…but now…now we can relax."

Weiss fell face first into the floor, only to be caught by Ruby who gently lied her down.

"Weiss is out cold!"

"All that magic must have worn her out" muttered Jaune as he took a seat.

"Probably, too tired to care" mumbled Blake, who quickly fell asleep.

"I'll be right back!" smiled Ruby "I'll drop the deed off to Ozpin!"

Ruby disappeared in a gust of wind, leaving everyone to begin dozing off.

"You know what the worst part about all this is" yawned Ren.

"What?"

"That our worries have only just begun. After the other guilds hear about this, I have no doubt they'll attempt something else."

"Just go to sleep" mumbled Nora "I want huggies."

"Huggies?" chuckled Jaune.

Ren soon found himself entrapped with Nora, her arms and legs latching onto Ren like a baby koala.

"I'm a Koala and yur my tree" she mumbled tiredly before her eyes closed.

"Of course I am" grumbled Ren.

The man somehow fell asleep as well, with Jaune dozing off moments later. Ruby would later return to what would be described as the most uncomfortable sleep over ever, for who would want to sleep on the floor?

And Ruby?

She was never happier. There would be lots to do true, but this guild marked the first step into a grand adventure! One that Ruby couldn't went to embark on…but for now?

For now she fell asleep with her sister, dozing away in a sleep that now carried incredible dreams.

END