Arc 2 - Chapter 15 - The Wolf Howls
There'd been no time to patch the ruined section of the outer wall, which was why Warrior-Princess Yang had ordered the defenses to be set in the vacated forecourt of the northern district—the direction from which the Mad Wolf had come before and likely would again.
The pre-evening sky was just catching fire. Dashed with streaks of pink and black clouds over a backdrop of deep blue. Jaune had watched the Sun fall behind a distant chain of mountains, leaving the faintest red glow behind, holding on despite its time being up. As if it pitied them. As if it knew well that when night fell, mercy would be in short supply. If indeed there was any to spare.
Sadly, the setting day did not take the summer heat with it, and Jaune was sweating harder than a cheating husband who'd found his wife searching through his phone. Jaune had worked himself ragged, working on the defenses with the rest of his new allies, even after taking off his armor. Damn heat, if I could have my way it'd be cold every day. At least you can do something about it. A scarf and coat and you're set. You have to go the opposite way when it's hot.
Thankfully, since he'd finished his work and assisted several others, Captain Sun had shown mercy and let him take a good long break. He sat now on the edge of a house, overlooking a great square—which was more like a circle with two streets on opposing ends—and watched construction go on. They'd been at it the past two days and while most of it was completed, there was still work being done. What remained were a small scattering of Blessed warriors and civilians hard at work in the plaza, the sound of banging hammers, saws ripping into wood, the moaning of barricades and walls being hoisted up, the barking orders of captains, and the roars and groans of straining workmen had come together and create an atmosphere Jaune had not seen before. At least, not in such circumstances.
Rope ladders were fastened to the roofs of buildings and then flung off the sides, rolling down to the ground level. Perfect for foot soldiers to gain higher ground and for ranged soldiers set a camp on the roofs and loose arrows and magic. Rope bridges, too. Stretching from one building to the other for faster, more organized, more flexible movements if plans were to change all of a sudden. Palisade walls were raised in many columns throughout the northern street, spiked in the front and sides and bare in the back for people to duck behind. They were rowed like columns of sharp and tightly-packed teeth up to the broken section of the main wall. Looking much more like they were built to slow a legion of undead, rather than one troublesome invader.
That thought was still troubling Jaune. Had troubled him ever since he'd heard about this Mad Wolf character. Everyone else worked like it was a fact well understood by now, but Jaune had not yet wrapped his mind around the idea that all of this effort was to ward off one guy. All those barricades, and even Princess Yang's detailed plan of attack, for one man. It sounded ridiculous.
And yet… When he looked at the great hole in the outer wall, which looked much bigger now that he was closer, it gave him some measure of perspective. If he can do that, then our defenses will not hold him. I think Princess Yang knows it. I think everyone knows it. But what other choice is there? Just don't prepare at all, knowing it won't make a difference? That's worse than outright surrender.
"Shield Knight," Speaking of the Princess, she came toward him cross-armed and serious-faced like she was preparing defenses of her own. Bulwarks against fear, doubt, and trust. Jaune wasn't a fan of this new title of his, but, in this world, warriors referred to each other by title if not specifically close. "I trust you've completed your preparations?"
"To the best of my ability. Your Highness," Jaune made sure to tag on that last bit. He'd gotten quite a telling from Weiss—or rather the Ice Queen—for forgetting the proper terms of address and was not keen on suffering through that again. "Do you think he'll come today?"
The Princess looked off toward the wall, past it even, at the snowy forest beyond. "He will. The air changes."
"Air still feels hot to me."
"You'll feel it soon enough." Yang turned back to him. "In any case, I have simply come to remind you of your role in this battle. Repeat it to me."
Jaune let go of the urge to sigh and did as he was told. In between the building of defenses, he'd had a few combat sessions with her and the captains so they could get familiar with his powers. Princess Yang seemed to favor his defense-oriented powers, and the role she'd accordingly assigned him reflected that. "I stay on the roofs. Protect the bows and casters. Keep them alive so they can keep constant pressure on the Wolf," Jaune pointed down into the middle of the plaza. "Do it right, and he'll be pushed here."
"Where?"
"You and the other forces will take him from all sides. Give him no room to breathe. Hope that's enough."
"While you?"
"Hang back, shield whoever I can. Extend the longevity of the forces. Especially you and the other captains."
"And under no circumstance are you to do what?"
Jaune pursed his lips for a moment but eventually answered. "I am not to join the battle directly."
She nodded. "Good. Your powers are well suited for defense, which is valuable. The Wolf is savage and can fight for a long time. With your defenses preventing us from taking too many wounds, I believe we can wear him down enough to capture him. Or kill him, I suppose."
"Haven't made up your mind?" Jaune then remembered to tack on, "Your Highness?"
Yang raised her huge gauntlets, then put them together as if trying to crush something. "I will decide if I am a woman of mercy when my hands have secured his neck."
Jaune nodded obediently and a moment of silence passed between them. A silence where a pressing question started to gnaw at Jaune's mind, digging for answers. He had no idea if it'd piss Yang off, and he doubted that Yang was aware of her real-life counterpart's deal. Still, best to shoot for a bullseye, even in the dark. "If I may ask, your Highness, how did the Queen-Mother pass?"
Princess Yang's lip curled, arms tightened over her chest. She raised a pompous chin, still staring tragically over the horizon, but Jaune saw her throat shift when she swallowed. "My mother…" and she took a breath. "She was on a diplomatic mission, to facilitate trade with an allied nation. My Uncle, the leader of the Blessed, Black Blade Qrow, was her sole charge and was set to guide her there and back unharmed."
Jaune already knew where this was going. "I'm guessing he didn't do his job very well?"
Yang chuckled, and it was pretty strange since he had not seen this Yang laugh before. He saw the perfect reflection of the real her for just a moment. But it didn't last. "Indeed. She was killed in a demon attack." She nodded toward the mountains. "The Shadowlands, beyond those mountains, that's where they had to cross. The demons there… they are powerful beyond even me. Only my uncle was strong enough to slay them. But one warrior against thousands of monsters? It was too much to expect, even from a warrior of my uncle's prowess."
That, of course, encouraged further curiosity. "I don't see the Black Blade here with us."
Yang glanced at him sidelong, patience very clearly being tested. Jaune bowed his head in respect.
"No." She continued. "My uncle returned to deliver the news. He couldn't live with the shame and so banished himself to the very place where my mother died. I imagine he's still there now, waging a pointless war with demons who do not venture past those dark borders. My father secluded himself in his work as king, hoping to keep alive what mother built."
"I'm guessing he didn't do his job very well?"
"He's done his best." Yang defended, "Still, this kingdom is used to a queen. Or at least a king and queen together. I cannot, for I do not have the Silver Eyes. The new queen must be Ruby. And until she's a woman-grown, she must be protected. Perhaps even long after."
Princess Ruby seemed entirely capable of keeping out of harm's way, Jaune wanted to say. He thought back to how she'd left him and Neptune on the fringes of her dusty trail as she ran off through the forest. "And you're sure the Mad Wolf wants to hurt her?"
"A beast knows only how to kill and destroy. Nothing more."
He knew she wasn't talking about him. How could she be, after all? Yet it stung still, like it somehow applied to him. It was like those whispers he'd hear from his peers, that he was a serial killer in the making. Or had a look that repelled people. Stupid notions, but they could still sting.
"We stop him, then," Jaune said, keeping his thoughts to himself.
She watched him for a moment as if reading his thoughts, then turned and headed off across one of the bridges. It seemed even after two days of cooperation that she still didn't trust him, despite his having clear opportunities to get to Princess Ruby. Jaune sighed and looked off toward the wall.
I'm not here to earn anyone's trust. I'm simply here to save my friend's heart. Jaune thought about what Princess Ruby said. Not at all looking scared about what the Wolf might do to her and wanting only for no one to get hurt. But giving her up? That would devastate the city, wouldn't it? Wasn't he meant to banish this threat so her heart could finally move on? Or was he looking at this whole situation wrong?
I sensed very little despair, and that correlates to the few Grimm I've seen around. Her heart seems stable. Only that can't be right. I was there to see her arms cut up by her hand. Her uncle is in the hospital with no promise to get better. It would only make sense for her heart to be in turmoil. So why?
Jaune rubbed his head, felt a headache begin to form, thumping inside his skull. He wondered if this battle was anything but a waste of time, while the true threat was something he'd not yet considered.
What does any of this mean? What is your heart trying to tell me, Ruby?
Jaune knew that the Wolf had arrived once it started to get cold.
The timing could not have been better, for the Mad Princess's howling rang through the empty night like the tortured moans of the dead. Closer now than ever before. When at first it had sounded strange and unsettling, now there was a strange solace in it, like a song you'd listened to all your life. Jaune gained an understanding of the Princess's sound that he couldn't quite explain, and this song was a somber one, indeed. The sound of a plea. As if she was telling someone to turn back, for the danger ahead was on a scale they could not hope to overcome. But who was this warning for? The Wolf? Or her army? Jaune truly hoped it was the former.
Night had since fallen. Moonless, starless, looking like a murky black swamp floating above his head, concealing the cosmic horrors beyond. Jaune was glad Captain Sun had suggested bonfires, and now the whole plaza and the surrounding buildings were dotted with them. Tall and crackling, flames flickering ten feet high, which would be good for the cold. All while illuminating their makeshift stronghold and warding off not just beasts and invaders, but the looming darkness itself.
For now, anyway.
Something touched the tip of Jaune's nose. Cold and wet. It made him look up. Is that snow? It was proven within the minute. Snow had begun to fall over the entire square, maybe even the city, a steady soundless shower that was at both times soothing and disturbing. It had grown colder now, his skin was starting to feel prickly. Jaune fastened the fur cloak he'd been given tighter around his shoulders to keep the gelid temperatures at bay. He just hoped that would be enough.
Jaune's heart jumped into his throat at the sound of the war bugle. The signal would only sound if the Mad Wolf had been spotted. Knowing his role, he and several others began to move toward the head of the barricades, quickly across the rooftops, signaling for all warriors tucked around their fires to tighten their bows, to sharpen their arrowheads, to prepare their runes and incantations.
He hopped up onto a chimney and looked on ahead, toward the gaping hole in the outer wall, looking much more like a monster's mouth now than from far away. Nothing but pitch darkness beyond its crumbled ruins. He waited there, summoned his shield, and took a firm hold of it, just to keep his hands from shaking.
He brings the cold and the dark and the moon with him, the Innkeeper had said. How right he was.
There, on top of the wall, someone stood in the shadows, barely able to be seen. But Jaune knew he was there. The air pressure had grown heavier, so much that his legs started to feel like they were being weighed down by lead. The air was much colder now, too. He shivered despite the protection of his coat, but that wasn't what shook him the most.
A pair of bright red eyes shined through the darkness with a murderous hunger, not unlike a starved Grimm on the hunt who had seen his prey and now drooled with anticipation. Jaune jumped again as the shrill, high call of the Mad Princess spoke to him. It spoke of mercy, of retreat, of promises, of warning. It pleaded, begged, implored him.
No. Not him.
The Wolf howled back, and it seemed to disturb the very air. A deep, gruff cry like a man who'd had his wife taken from him and now sought vengeance through blood. Defiance, he said, and Jaune somehow understood. The Wolf spoke of mercy, retreat, promises, and warnings too, just in the other direction. He would have his woman. All else be damned.
In a moment of strange enlightenment, Jaune put things together. Princess Ruby calling for her love, the howling in the night, her claiming the Wolf would not stop until he had her. Most importantly, the responding howls that Jaune had thought were his imagination up to now.
The Mad Wolf was no enemy. He was the Mad Princess's lover.
The Wolf appeared as a shadow as it leaped a great height into the air. By then, the clouds had begun to part, giving way to eerie moonlight which fell upon the city and was greatly growing wider, as if marking its territory. The Wolf was a dark silhouette before the sky-bound quarter-moon, eyes blood-red. Then he dived to the ground, landing flat-footed without even needing to bend his knees, now fully revealed in a spotlight of moonbeam.
You would think he was made of steel, he was so covered in it. Not a bit of him unprotected. He was swathed in a full black set of armor, set with silver linings and edges, engravings of ancient letters, while dark cloth filled in all the places armor couldn't reach. About as dark knight as one could be. The fingers of the gauntlets were even claws, the points kissed by moonlight. It made Jaune think that those were the Wolf's weapons. That he only needed his knuckles to wipe out this small army. Maybe he did.
He wore a flowing gray fur cloak wrapped around his neck, and it flapped in the passing wind, almost like a wolf's tail. Jaune had half expected this beast to appropriately have the head of a wolf, but instead, he wore a helmet shaped like one. Set fully over his face, the wolf's mouth twisted into a snarl like it was always pissed off. The visor was but a single long slit across the eyes, too dark to see inside, if there was anything.
Jaune wondered for a hopeful minute if this tryhard wore such armor because he was actually very physically frail. Downed with one punch and all that. Then came the terrifying and more likely idea that the armor was specifically to hold the Wolf back from using all his strength.
Someone stepped up to the edge of one of the buildings, and the fiery hair was all the recognition Jaune needed. Princess Yang raised her chin and stared down at her enemy like he was an insect that had previously escaped her boot, but would not do so again. "You return yet again, mutt?"
The Wolf was silent for a moment, looking up at the Princess. So still as to appear a mere suit of armor. "As many times as I must." He said. Even his voice sent chills up Jaunes spine. Deep and echoing. It sounded cold. Ice to the ears. This was the Mad Princess's secret lover? Ridiculous. "It seems your bravery has brought you to face me once more."
"As many times as I must," said Yang, using his own words. "You will not have my sister, bastard. She is good and pure and innocent. You…" her lip curled. "Are a blight upon our land. Upon the very world. You will bring my sister no joy, no matter what she says."
Again, the Wolf was silent looking at her. Then he raised his right arm into the air, making several archers and mages aim their weapons in preparation. Even Jaune raised his shield a bit.
The Wolf raised his clawed gauntlet to the sky, palm pointed upward, fingers wide like he was about to catch something. He didn't, but then that hadn't been the truth of his actions. Jaune looked up to find the clouds moving, shifting and thinning on fast forward, steadily peeling back that proverbial curtain that obscured the moon in all its glory. When it did, most of the moon was a silhouette against the dark backdrop, while a sliver of the right side of the moon peeked out from the darkness like the sclera of a nearly closed eye.
"The Waxing Crescent," The Mad Wolf intoned. "I am not favored this night, it seems. Very well." The Wolf closed his hand, around the handle of a weapon that materialized right from the air.
A long weapon in a slightly curved scabbard. One of those eastern swords. A katana, Jaune believed it was called.
The Wolf observed the weapon for a moment. "Unlucky. This weapon does not suit me." He took the end of the scabbard in his other hand and began slowly to draw the blade free. Moonlight touched razor-sharp iron and gave it a ghostly glow. A foot-length of steel, then the Wolf paused and looked up.
Toward Jaune.
In a panic, Jaune jumped to the house directly behind him. It was good that he had.
The Wolf ripped the blade from the sheath in a flash, somehow drawing an arcing blade of pure white energy free and sending it flying at Jaune, or rather at the building he'd stood one. Like a hot knife through a stick of cold butter, a great chunk of the building Jaune once stood on began to slide off, akin to eroded stone from a cliffside. It crashed into the street below, making the ground tremble.
The Wolf's eyes glowed brightly through his visor, this time lighting the whole thing up. He sheathed the sword, which might normally indicate a fight to be over. But Jaune knew he would draw it again. He said, "It seems fate would have me struggle this time. But it matters little. This will be enough."
Another blade of aura was sent spearing at another building, the one where Princess Yang stood. Instead of panicking, several mages summoned a tall barrier, which took the attack well. The first one, anyway. The Wolf sent a second and third, cracking the shield, then destroying it entirely, while a fourth blade came through the dust and tore through the roof. By then, the residents atop had found stable footing on the buildings behind them.
"Return fire! Don't let him attack!" Jaune heard Sun call out in the distance. The ranged forces were only too happy to oblige. Arrows first, sailing high above before raining down, and shooting straight in rows of ground-covering precision. Normal shafts, ones lit on fire, some even crackling with lightning.
The Wolf proved he was not slow under all that armor. Jumping and dodging around, blocking with his sword or armor. He found an opening and unleashed another aura blade at a house further off. Only to be canceled by a hefty bolt of lightning. From Neptune, no doubt.
The Wolf did not let this deter him, unfortunately. He leaped up and toward Jaune's perch, sword mid-draw. Jaune threw his hands up and cast High Reflect. The barrier pulsing as the blade made contact with a muted clang. He felt the Wolf's strength seep into the shell and knew right away it would break in seconds if he didn't get him off.
Jaune shattered the barrier and launched the savage back, off the building and back to the ground. This time landing on his feet with a lot less poise.
"Give him no chance to retaliate! Rain the streets with fire!" The distant sound of Weiss's voice.
From there it was a sequence of actions and reactions that worked entirely well in their favor. The ranged forces rained arrows and elements down onto the street from all sides and angles and the Wolf frustrated their efforts. He was a blur weaving through the webwork of barricades, battering aside the ground warriors that attempted to spring up and surprise him. All the while just narrowly avoiding explosions, falling lightning, and crashing ice inside that tight street. And at every chance he got, he unleashed flying aura beams at the ranged soldiers. On his side, Jaune followed from the rooftops and repelled his attacks, each time feeling like a chunk of breath was being ripped out of his lungs.
His attacks were upsettingly powerful Enough that High Reflect was only just sufficing as a countermeasure. Jaune remembered his declaration to fight this guy alone, which now seemed like a moment of stupidity beyond recovery. He was already not controlling his breathing as he pushed his legs harder to keep up with the enemy, just barely saving most companies, and outright being too late to save the rest. The Wolf did this all while navigating that deadly stretch of street, the barricades proving to be little else beyond obstacles on a track run.
The Wolf made it to the plaza without much effort, stopping in the middle and looking about at the great trap laid before him. Surrounded by buildings on all sides, and those very buildings littered with archers and mages, ground forces on all sides, and armed with swords, spears, axes, and staffs in multiple formations dotted about the generous field, covering every possible route of escape. Jaune somehow doubted the Wolf would try to escape. Maybe he didn't even know what the word meant.
The air grew noticeably colder, Jaune could see his breaths.
"Release!" Called Ren from a spot on one of the far buildings, and a smattering of lightning arrows flew toward the Wolf.
He made to move, but seemed for the first time capable of being hurt, as the ground at his feet exploded and sent him tumbling across the way, having fallen for the arrow distraction. Jaune looked toward Princess Yang, who stood from her perch, fists aflame. She punched the air and the fire was loosed like a bolt from a crossbow, once again launching the Wolf rolling across the cobbles. He did not let the third blast catch him, but that was well enough, since there were plenty more dangers for him to mind.
Warriors of one group advanced on the Wolf like a team of lionesses swarming a particularly large buffalo with plenty of fight in him. They circled, advanced from the air, all roaring with fury. The Wolf met one by driving the pommel of his katana into his nose, then booting him flying and crashing into one of his teammates. Another came down with a spear, ground breaking where the blade met it, but the Wolf was too fast. He swung the blade fully and made his opponent raise his guard, then stopped before the blade could touch and spun around to catch him in the face with the back of his gauntlet. By that estimation, the rest of the warriors fared no better.
Jaune felt almost entirely useless standing there, with very little to do but watch and wait for an opportunity. The groups came on one after another, sometimes two at a time, and were all laid out shortly after. A row of warriors came charging and the Wolf dashed the air in front of him with his free hand, conjuring a strange wet substance that splashed the warriors straight on, covering them from head to toe and making them slip and fall into a heap of arms and legs. Jaune thought he had to be mistaking it because when the light of a bonfire ignited the substance, it was a dark red… like blood.
Princess Yang and Captain Weiss rained exploding fire and spears of ice down from the perches high above, taking care not to harm their warriors in the process, though that wasn't so hard given that the Wolf was running them down. The Wolf seemed intent not to be touched, blitzing through many dozens of Blessed while evading the attacks coming from all around him. It might have been pure chaos, if this didn't feel like some well-orchestrated dance and everyone was simply reciting their moves.
This was why it was not altogether surprising that the Wolf made fast work of the ground forces.
Even Princess Yang had said she expected something like this, but seeing it with his own eye was another thing entirely. Just shy of a hundred warriors all in optimized formations, the best armor and weapons, and superpowers to boot, were all laid out in the courtyard like they'd all got shit-faced drunk and passed out in a collective sleepover. No one else seemed to appreciate this manner of insanity, not even the Wolf himself, who simply looked toward Princess Yang, saying nothing, a silent declaration for a real challenge. Or for this pathetic attempt to defeat him to come to a yet respectable end.
"Clear the field," he issued. "I would have no deaths on my conscience."
Yang looked furious, but in the end, she said, "My remaining warriors! Retrieve your comrades and bring them to the healers. Seal the castle doors and protect the Princess!" Yang's fiery hair surged as her fists clenched. "My squad, with me. If we are to meet death tonight, then we take this animal with us!"
Jaune, even if nervously, leaped down to join the Princess as soon as the fallen warriors were brought away. He wondered how long they'd even been fighting. It didn't feel very long at all. He spotted Neptune coming down from his perch too, and they both exchanged nervous glances, no doubt thinking about the same things.
Then that was the lineup. Yang, Sun, Ren, Nora, and Weiss standing before the lone Wolf. Jaune and Neptune joined their sides, but it felt a lot like their addition would contribute about as much as nothing at all. They were a supporting cast in this world's ongoing narrative of primary characters and this fight was an uphill struggle as it was.
The Wolf closed his hand around the handle of his sword, wordless.
"Tell me something," growled Yang. "Why my sister? There are other kingdoms whose people you may bully, whose princesses you may defile. Yet you choose our little kingdom which has no military and no enemies. You destroy our walls and wound our soldiers all in pursuit of a girl not yet a woman. Why my sister?"
The Wolf did not say anything for a moment. That was starting to feel like a recurring thing with him. "I do not question why, and so I have no answer. It is Princess Ruby I desire and no other."
"You do not wish to take the throne and subjugate our kingdom to your rule?"
"If that is my future, I am yet unaware."
Yang frowned. "And do you understand the weight of your selfishness? Don't you see that if you take her away, we will be defenseless? The eternal summer fades. And the cold you bring shall bring us a harsh winter and demons in droves, now unafraid of the Rose Family's silver eyes. It may not be your hand which spills out blood, but they will be stained all the same."
"The winter can be harsh and cruel, but it is not eternal. It is the nature of things to wither and die and fade. And for those yet alive to struggle on. The time of the longest summer is at an end. I will have your princess and you shall have a short winter. It is the way of things."
Yang readied herself, fists on fire, mouth twisted into a furious snarl and the others followed suit. "Damn you then! I'll never let you have her! Never!"
The Wolf offered no response. Not unless you counted his aura blade.
He'd thrown it out to ward off the sudden approach of Ren, who flipped elegantly backward and over the stone-splitting blade, landing gently on the head of a fountain. Jaune made sure to keep up as the Blessed advanced, ready to do his part and protect them, hoping this would all come to an end soon.
And to be fair, he got exactly what he wanted.
Nora had come sailing from above with a villain's cackle, her giant hammer raised and ready to flatten the Wolf into a pancake. He made ready to draw, but Jaune was ahead of him, raising his shield to block the attack. He shattered the barrier, forcing the Wolf to skip backward, but Nora was on him then, swinging like a maniac, tearing great holes in the walls of buildings unfortunate enough to be in her way. The Wolf swung again and Jaune raised a shield again, the beast snarling with frustration. Bolts of lightning came from behind and rained about the Wolf. He trembled from their impact, but was still left standing, residual electricity sparking across his armor.
Next came Sun and Weiss, one a whirlwind with a staff, the other a typhoon of ice and rapier stabs. The harsh music of steel on steel was in the air. Clang, clang, clang. Vicious and unrelenting. The Wolf cut wide, but Sun had moved around him and managed to catch him in the back of the head, making the Wolf stumble forward. Weiss lunged at him, forcing the Wolf to raise his arms, her blade piercing his hand, going through and picking into his shoulder. It seemed Weiss knew better than to stay in his reach though, for she abandoned her weapon and sprang away, just in time to avoid the bloody spray the Wolf sent with his free hand.
Nora was up again, and bringing her hammer down fast.
The Wolf managed to roll away and scramble up, but the sheer weight of the crashing weapon was enough to make him stumble, hand practically stapled to his chest with the sword inside. He made ready to pull it free, but Neptune's magic was on him, chains of lightning crashing and burning and setting the world ablaze, forcing their target to weave and dart constantly.
Finally, the Wolf simply pulled his trapped hand from the blade itself, tearing flesh. The blade dropped and he was forced to kneel for a moment, looking very much like he was struggling to stay upright.
That moment of weakness did not go unappreciated.
Princess Yang must have smelled his blood, because she loosed her fire-fist bolts to get the Wolf moving, then blazed toward him in a stream of golden fire. Lightning-quick punches, rending the air with her every swing, shattering the ground, fire leaping around like her rage simply could not be restrained. Even the bonfires seemed to pulse with her every roar. The Wolf took a blow in a gut and took it hard, practically lifted off his feet, before a second punch caught him in the jaw and sent him spinning away like a corkscrew on a power drill.
Still, Yang was not done. She heaved with exhaustion but was not intent on letting the Wolf off with such little punishment. She hounded him, all the Blessed did. Perfectly synced with the kind of coordination that Jaune found himself envying. He could only watch them go at it. Nora scored a blow to the Wolf's back, sending him right toward Ren, who hounded him with lightning-fast cuts from his daggers. Sun squeezed in and barraged him with his staff, two times, four times, ten times. Weiss called her columns of ice from the ground, crashing into the Wolf and sending him flopping away in a heap.
Yang came through like a flying arrow, fist winded back and spinning with fire, roaring her remaining efforts. The Wolf had regained himself, and was about to draw his sword to cut her down, but Jaune prevented his efforts once again. The blade beam destroyed the barrier, freeing Yang to come through unharmed and not at all slowed down. Time seemed to slow as she landed that fireball of a punch right into the Wolf's helmet. Jaune heard it crack and cave, and imagined the same for the face beyond it, before the Wolf was sent careening backward and crashing through a house. The force was enough to bring the whole thing down on top of him with a booming crash, debris spraying, dust scattering.
What remained was silence, except for the labored breathing of the Blessed. Yang looked exhausted, but she barked out orders regardless. "Dig him out and if he is not dead, bind him in chains. Weiss, cast the magic prevention rune. We cannot waste this chance!"
The others hurried up to do so, while Yang had to lean against a wall to support herself, heaving for air. Even her fiery hair had settled to a strangely weak flicker.
Neptune caught up with Jaune, sweaty and scared, but unharmed. "Looks like we did it."
Jaune looked at the mound of rubble as the Blessed began to dig out the defeated Wolf. It had been a struggle, yes, more than two hundred warriors' worth of effort, but this had been the point right? To stop the Wolf and protect Ruby's heart.
But Jaune was thinking about what the Wolf said. About a summer that had gone on for too long, and how winter had to come because it was the way of things. He wanted no kingdom or to be a ruler. He wanted only the Princess. To take her away from a city unable to accept change. It all sounded so… not malicious. If the city was to embody Ruby's family, the world she'd known and had fallen apart around her, then who was the Wolf who sought to free her from it? If the city was recovering now, had he saved her already somehow, long before all this?
The air grew noticeably colder. The fur may as well have not been around Jaune, for every inch of his skin felt like it was ready to jump off his flesh.
Jaune almost screamed as a hand burst from the rubble and snatched Weiss by the neck, stunning everyone around her. Then, like a shark that had snatched its prey and taken it beneath the water, the hand dragged Weiss into the rubble in a spray of stone and wood debris. Panic spread for all about a second, and then it was everyone else's turn to scream. The felled rubble exploded with a sudden and ear-shattering force, blasting the Blessed off the feet and sending them tumbling away like ragdolls kicked across the floor. Shards of stone and mortar rained upon the world.
The Wolf now stood, armor heavily dented and damaged, blood across his arm and a section of his helmet shattered. Blonde hair spilled out from that side, but the rest of him was still hidden, yet that hair was strangely familiar. At his feet, Weiss laid unconscious on her back, looking like she had simply been put to sleep rather than brutally killed.
"The Wolf will not kill you," Princess Ruby had said, "He does not have to."
Nora barely got up to her knees before shouting. "What did you do to her?"
The Wolf offered no answer, simply raising his gauntleted hand. The air was frightfully cold. It felt like the very air would turn to ice around Jaune and he had a feeling that was not an accident. "Sleep," the Wolf commanded in a tired voice. "in the Embrace of Winter beckons you."
The sound was like the shattering of glass, only a hundred times louder. Jaune had just barely gotten his shield up around him and Neptune, but that had only saved their ears from rupturing. Before Jaune could even attempt to blink, he found that he was colder than he'd ever been all his life… and that he could not move.
All around him, at least as far as he could see without being able to turn his head, the entire plaza, from the streets to the barricades, from the trees to the buildings, any and everything within the entirety of the area… was encased in ice. A great field of hard, dry, ice wafting its cold breath up, up into the dark sky. Buildings had gained thick outer shells, stalagmites hung from rooftops and balconies, and even the fires from the bonfires had been taken by the cold, now merely statues of twisted ice protruding from icy kindling.
The Blessed were unfortunately not spared from this sudden ice age. All frozen in various states about the area, perhaps conscious, perhaps not, perhaps alive or not. Neptune was right there next to Jaune, arms raised like he'd hoped to fight off what was coming, face set into a permanent cringe like he'd realized his error a second too late.
Not far off, Princess Yang was encased as well, leaning against that wall in permanent need of its support, burning hair and all, which seemingly did nothing to ward off this strange curse.
The Wolf, of course, was the only one not frozen, but he stumbled forward now, struggling to walk. He clutched his bleeding arm, ambling on, fighting hard to stay conscious as he headed for the castle. He did not get far. Dropping to his knees, he must have known he had no strength left in him.
The ice casing was starting to make Jaune feel sleepy and that was hard to fight, given he was completely unable to move. He began to drift, the cold sapping away his body warmth, the world slowly being consumed by darkness.
The last thing he saw was the Wolf raising his head to the sky, a muted howling ringing high into the night sky as that slit of moon started to recede behind a screen of clouds. His howl spoke of failure, of apology, of frustration. It spoke of promises. The promise that he made long ago.
To take her from this place and show her a world beyond the confines of a kingdom stuck in the past. We will go together, he'd said that day. You and I.
But not tonight. Tonight, he'd lost.
He would return. Again and again. Fighting sword and fang. Until the day they were together again.
Jaune reconciled all of this, as the cold and the dark and moon took him into its cruel and soothing embrace.
Well, this was a fun chapter to write.
ISA